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
Die schwarze Narzisse (1947) and most
famously Die roten Schuhe (1948). When
their regular composer 'Allan Gray' failed to deliver what they wanted
for Die roten Schuhe (1948) Powell &
Pressburger turned to Easdale. He wrote the complete ballet score
complete with innovations such as the mysterious Ondes Martenot.
