Carwithen: Travel Royal Suite

Recorded: Abbey Road Studio no.1, London, 29-30 November 2010

Here, recorded for the first time, is music from seven of the thirty-four films scored by British composer Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003) between 1947 and 1954. Carwithen’s concert overture ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another) had established her as a force to be reckoned with in 1946 when it was premiered by the LPO under Sir Adrian Boult. In 1947, she was the only female composer chosen from the RAM to be apprentice to the newly instituted J Arthur Rank Apprenticeship Scheme, which taught the art of film music. Carwithen went on to become Muir Mathieson’s assistant for two years, and had the guiding hand of renowned film composer William Alwyn (1905-1985), whom she later married. The films represented here range from drama (To the Public Danger, Boys in Brown, Mantrap, Three Cases of Murder) and the ‘Boy’s Own’ adventure yarn Men of Sherwood Forest to pictorial informative documentaries (East Anglian Holiday, Travel Royal). Carwithen is adept in providing the right mood and scoring for each of these titles. From the gentle pastoralism of East Anglian Holiday and the swashbuckling Men of Sherwood Forest through to the bold and dramatic scores for Boys in Brown, Mantrap, Three Cases of Murder and To the Public Danger, an enjoyable and varied listening experience is ensured.