To flame?

[David]

Well, I know there have been prolly 5000 posts on this, so I'll make it short.

Has anyone heard John Fletchers VW? His 2000 "Best of John Fletcher" recording.

I'm not really a fan of the song, but up to now, I hadn't heard it done well. To say the least, John does it well.

[Dylan King]

Yep. John's recording is the best I've heard recorded so far.

[David]

All of the other recordings have been, well, not recording worthy. Some of them can be so sloppy, I don't know how they made it out of the edit room. Or, (that is, if they went in) on cd at all.

John's is pretty pitch accurate. There less sluggishness, or 'warbling,' uncentered tones in most of the higher passages, the different staccato sections, or the speedy runs that plague other VW performances. John's is agile, and clean. It really shows off many great qualities of the instrument.

Go Go Fletcher

[Rick Denney]

Well, I know there have been prolly 5000 posts on this, so I'll make it short.

Has anyone heard John Fletchers VW? His 2000 "Best of John Fletcher" recording.

I'm not really a fan of the song, but up to now, I hadn't heard it done well. To say the least, John does it well.

Yes, Fletcher's recording is the standard by which others are measured.

But I prefer the Hans Nickel recording. It's the only one that captures the dry humor of Vaughan Williams in the first movement, and the composer was definitely laughing quietly when he wrote it. It's also the only one that is faithful to the editorial markings in the published version, and it makes a pretty good case for them.

Rick "who thinks Fletcher was too serious and Lind too beautiful" Denney

[Tom B.]

Does anybody know where the John Fletcher CD "Best of Fletch" can be found? Lots of folks talk about it, but I can't find it for sale anywhere.

[Rick Denney]

Someday I want to hear a recording that is faithfull to the markings in the original, unpublished, pre compromise version so we can hear the case against the markings in the published version.

The impression I had was that everyone who is anyone has a copy of it already. If that includes those who have recorded (except Herr Nickel and, of course, Catelinet), then I think it's too smooth.

Vaughan Williams is dead, so we can't ask him. So, we take what's there and make music of it. Most who play it will work off the published version, and if they play it for contest, they will be expected to play the ink. It's nice that someone has recorded it in a way that presents the ink musically.

Rick "who has had offers to have sent that 'true' version, but who as yet hasn't seen it" Denney

[Rick Denney]

I've got a Fletcher recording on a Vaughn Williams CD. Not sure which one, though. It's the one that came up on an Amazon search for Vaughn Williams.

As far as I know, there is only one. EMI has packaged it variously, however. The one I have puts it with the RVW 5th.

Rick "who thinks it a good combination" Denney

[Tom B.]

I did a little more research. There is a "Best of Fletch" CD published by the John Fletcher Trust. Among other Fletcher pieces, it contains the VW with the London Symphony Orchestra. It may be the same version as on the all-Vaughn Williams CD. The CD used to be available from Bernel Music, but it looks like it isn't now. It is available online at one site in Germany

http://www.e-webshopping.de/spaeth-schm ... HER%20John

However, if I'm converting correctly the price with shipping and tax would come in at more than $50 U.S. Guess I'll keep looking for a used one.