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Brian Easdale (10 August 1909 – 30 October 1995) was a British composer of operatic, orchestral, choral and film music, best known for his ballet film score The Red Shoes of 1948.
Brian Easdale. Composer: The Red Shoes. 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'.
- January 1, 1
- Manchester, England, UK
- January 1, 1
- London, England, UK
Brian Easdale became the first British composer to receive and Oscar for film music (for "The Red Shoes"). He kept the statuette on his mantle shelf. Whilst in India, he met and befriended Rumer Godden (which eventually led to him scoring "Black Narcissus" for Powell and Pressburger).
- August 10, 1909
- October 30, 1995
Brian Easdale was a prolific composer whose extensive output covered most genres, from orchestral pieces, concertos, and choral works, including a mass for the new Coventry Cathedral, to chamber compositions.
Alongside Allan Gray (1902-1973), Manchester-born Easdale was the favoured composer of director duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (The Archers). People know something of his music for the ballet fantasy film The Red Shoes. It sounds superb here in a fifteen minute sequence of eight tracks.
Brian Easdale is an enigma. For a while he seemed to be the house-composer for the imaginative Archers team of Emeric and Pressburger. Their screen dramas were archetypes of the British Golden Age quite apart from being great films in their own right.
Brian Easdale: music from "Outcast of the Islands" (1951). Performed by the Philharmonia.
- 2 min
- 2.3K
- James Stuart
