Maverick musical polymath and champion of British composers
GILES EASTERBOOK, who has died aged 72, was one of that band of gloriously dishevelled eccentrics who populate the byways of the English musical tradition; a musical polymath, he was a composer, publisher, concert promoter, record producer and a founding member of the Bliss Trust, which promotes the music of the composer and conductor Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975).
Much of Easterbrook’s professional life was spent at the publisher Novello, championing the composers Bliss, John Mccabe, Daniel Jones and others; later he single-handedly developed the Maecenas contemporary catalogue, publishing works by Judith Bingham, Stephen Mcneff and Geoffrey Poole. He had unwavering faith in all the composers he represented, cajoling and persuading concert promoters to commission and perform their music.
With a shock of white hair and glasses perched precariously on his nose, he was rarely seen without a pipe from his impressive collection, including one that had belonged to Bliss and another bequeathed to him by Mccabe.
Easterbrook’s own compositions were described as having “a pronounced, sometimes astringent melodic gift”. They included The Moon Underwater for brass and percussion,; Out of the Purple, for clarinet and piano; and a re-creation of Robert Helpmann’s ballet Miracle in the Gorbals for Birmingham Royal Ballet with the choreographer Dame Gillian Lynne.
He had come to know Bliss in the final years of the composer’s life and encouraged his widow to establish a charitable trust that would not only promote her husband’s music but also support British composers.
Among the initiatives he led for the trust was the recording of all Bliss’s songs on the Hyperion label. He was also instrumental in establishing the Kenneth Leighton Trust and helped to organise the annual Park Lane Group concerts showcasing young composers and musicians.
His other interests included editing the music of Constant Lambert, making contributions to the New Grove Dictionary and writing entertaining notes for concert programmes and CDS. He combined two of those when compiling liner notes for a recording of Lambert’s Piano Concerto, observing of the Finale: “A stiff drink is required before this section can even be contemplated.”
Giles Robertson Harding Easterbrook was born on January 3 1949 in Spandau, Berlin, the younger of two sons of George Easterbrook, an engineer, and his wife Jean, who were involved in postwar relief work in Germany. He was two when the family moved to Horley in Surrey, and he was educated at Purley Grammar School.
At Worcester College, Oxford, he read Ancient Egyptology and Coptic but was drawn to music, illicitly attending lectures by the composer Kenneth Leighton, from whom he received private tuition. Dropping out of university, he spent two years organising concerts for a music agent before joining Novello, becoming head of music promotion.
At other times he was a co-founder of Prima Facie records with Stephen Plews, was involved with the Chameleon Group of Composers, and for many years moonlighted in his local greengrocer in Horley.
Easterbrook was a High-church Anglican who enjoyed real ale and was a member of Camra. He also partook of fine wines, regaling friends with stories such as his humorous hypothesis that Ralph Vaughan Williams’s dog must have been called Ampney because of the composer’s famous hymn tune Down Ampney (“Come Down, O Love Divine”). He grew apples in his garden and eschewed all forms of electronic communication.
In 2013 he married Jane Armstrong; they met in an Oxfam shop when she was searching for a copy of the King James Bible. She survives him.