Brian Easdale(1909-1995)

Brian studied under Gordon Jacob and Armstrong Gibbs at the RCM (Royal College of Music). He wrote his first opera (Rapunzel) at the age of 17 and at age 20 had the honor of having a Dead March processional he had written performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir 'Malcolm Sargent'. Brian served with the Royal Artillery during WWII but spent a lot of that time working as a composer for various government Film Units composing the music for training films and propaganda works. His major film work was done for the famous team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with suitably dramatic scores for Black Narcissus (1947) and most famously The Red Shoes (1948). When their regular composer 'Allan Gray' failed to deliver what they wanted for The Red Shoes (1948) Powell & Pressburger turned to Easdale. He wrote the complete ballet score complete with innovations such as the mysterious Ondes Martenot.