Memoir: How Phil Lesh revived grateful dead British composers
RIPIn 1991 I spent time with the rock-star Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, who has died aged 84.
Phil had conceived a passion verging on obsession with recent, mostly British, symphonists of considerable obscurity. Havergal Brian, anyone? Phil was there first.
Phil’s Rex Foundation used Grateful Dead profits to fund recordings of symphonies by Havergal Brian, Robert Simpson and Bernard Stevens. Later he embraced Harrison Birtwistle. Elliott Carter was another beneficiary. He and I spent an hour or two discussing serious esoterica.
I wrote up the story for the Independent magazine, and reproduced it on slippedisc.
Read on here.
Enjoyed this a lot. Thanks for posting. Will send me to listen to those composers. Wonder if Birtwhistle ever listened to the Dead…
RIP Phil, from a guy who spent many a summer dancing their tail off in the Phil zone at Alpine Valley
There indeed few that Champion modern Brtish Composers but one recently stands out…for me…and that is the Pianist and teacher Duncan Honybourne…in so far as British,earlier 20th Cent…music my neighbour’s ‘imposing’ D.H’s playing as an after dinner Digestif turned to be an Epiphani !
Try it …enjoy it !