Roger Fisher

[Jim Treloar]

It is sad to report the death of Roger Fisher on June 3rd.  He had been incapacitated for over two years following a severe stroke.  He had spent 39 years as master of music at Chester Cathedral, but after that was active as a recitalist, teacher, recording artist and organ consultant.   It was terrible that so talented a man spent his final years unable to do anything.  R.I.P.

[S_L]

2 hours ago, Jim Treloar said:

It was terrible that so talented a man spent his final years unable to do anything.  R.I.P.

Yes, very sad. 

May Roger Fisher rest in peace.

[Vox Humana]

I can only echo the comments above. We have lost an exceptional organist who was always worth hearing.

[Dafydd y Garreg Wen]

17 hours ago, Vox Humana said:

I can only echo the comments above. We have lost an exceptional organist who was always worth hearing.

Indeed. May he rest in peace. A great loss.

What sticks most in my mind is the meticulous way he would prepare everything he played, even voluntaries for the most humdrum of services where a small congregation might have little or no appreciation of music. Only the very highest standard was good enough.

[Adnosad]

Been expecting this for some time now.  Very sad indeed.

Glad we managed to hear his last recital at  Chester.

He will live on in memories and cdz :)

[pwhodges]

Very sad to hear; I have and enjoy a number of recordings of his. 

I contacted him a few years ago about one of his recordings, and got back a message which after replying to my query went on to ask if I was the boy who had disappeared unannounced from Christ Church choir in 1960 when he was organ scholar there!  I was (illness, but a complicated story, and the school kept it secret why I had gone for some inscrutable reason), but he had only had a term to get to know me, so I felt that recognising my name over 50 years later was somewhat remarkable.

Paul

[Andrew Butler]

I used to have an LP he made at Chester in the late 60s / early 70s that I nearly wore out.  Lots of "War Horses" - BWV 565 and 645, Karg-Elert "Nun Danket" (With Tuba coupled for the last few bars!) Whitlock 5 Short Pieces etc

[OwenTurner]

I don’t feel completely comfortable watching a funeral on line but this one came up amongst the feed of events from Chester.

 

[Adnosad]

I have only " attended" one on line funeral.   Was a strange experience but it was filmed very discreetly; one also had to provide a code to " log in ", for obvious reasons.

Personally, with the greatest respect, I feel that this " event" should have been conducted in the same way.

Roger Fisher was a marvellous musician; but more importantly he was a very nice man.  If we are not personally invited to the send off of a person we do not know closely, or we are not related to, then the best way, in my opinion, is to remember them spiritually - not via the intrusive means of digital intervention; HOS , and their ilk, fall into a different category altogether

In parting though I must say that overall the standard of music  performed was well above that which we were " entertained " with at a recent send off.

 

[John Morris]

I haven't seen Roger Fisher's yet, but I was very grateful to be able to observe online, and passively participate in, the funeral of Catherine Ennis (who died six months ago today) and thought it was a beautiful and moving occasion.  It was, of course, done in a highly professional manner.