Prima Facie Records

PFCD204 £12.50 (UK) / £17.50 (ROTW)

Music by Giles Easterbrook

1. Aubade for St Francis – performed by Roger Montgomery, horn           
2. Sad But True – performed by Caroline Balding, violin; Joseph Sanders, oboe
3. 25 Variations – performed by David Owen Norris, piano
4-8. In Passing – performed by Gemini
9. Out of the Purple – performed by Ian Mitchell, clarinet; Huw Watkins, piano
10. Clarinet Trio, Aus dem ersten Grün – performed by Tritium

Total Time: 67:41

Giles Easterbrook was a composer, publisher, writer, and entrepreneur whose musical interests and tastes ranged widely. From the early 1970s he worked in most areas of musical life, as concert promoter, composer and artist's representative, theatre-music writer, director and manger, performing and composing competition adjudicator, ensemble director and tour manager, panellist, broadcaster, member of several music support trusts, co-founder of the Chameleon Composers Group, on committees of music organisations including WASBE, and the Redcliffe and Park Lane Group concerts. He died on September 1, 2021, and this CD, 'In Passing', is released, in his memory, on Prima Facie Records, the label he co-founded with Steve Plews in 2005.

'In Passing' is a portrait of Easterbrook the composer and consists of six pieces performed by major exponents of contemporary music, including Roger Montgomery, David Owen Norris, Ian Mitchell, Huw Watkins and Tritium. The CD takes its title from the five-movement octet situated at the heart of the CD’s programme, brilliantly performed by the ensemble Gemini. The booklet includes notes written by Easterbrook himself. The bulk of the music on this CD was formerly released on Prima Facie (PFCD002), though now long out of print, as 'The Moon Underwater: Music by Giles Easterbrook'. The title track of the original disc is here replaced by Giles’ Clarinet Trio, 'Aus dem ersten Grün'.

Credits

Tracks 1, 3, 9 recorded at RNCM, 15/09/2009
Tracks 2, 4-8 recorded at Trinity College of Music, 01/09/2009
Track 10 recorded at Turner Sims, Southampton, August 2017

Giles Easterbrook, co-founder of Prima Facie Records, who sadly passed away on September 1st, 2021, composed music characterised by a ‘pronounced, sometimes astringent melodic gift’, ‘rhythmic subtlety’ and ‘an original, often unexpected harmonic sense’. 

From the early 1970s he worked in most areas of musical life, as concert promoter, composer and artist’s representative, theatre-music writer, director and arranger, performing and composing competition adjudicator, ensemble director and tour manager, panellist, broadcaster, member of several music support trusts, cofounder of the Chameleon Composers Group, on committees of music organisations including WASBE, the Redcliffe and Park Lane Group concerts.

As publisher he was head of music promotion at Novello for many years before single-handedly developing the innovative, then independent Maecenas Contemporary catalogue. As writer he contributed to publications including New Grove Dictionary of Music, Contemporary Composers and Encyclopaedia Britannica, wrote reviews and items for the national and international press, researched and authenticated for several publications, wrote countless programme notes and was four times nominated for ‘Best CD Liner Notes’ Grammy Awards.

As editor he realised, reconstructed or made performing versions of works by composers such as Arnold, Lambert, Bliss, Daniel Jones, Holst and Buxtehude. As a composer his catalogue is not large, but important works have been performed and broadcast in Europe, Japan, Australia, the US and throughout the UK.