County orchestra to honour legendary composer who penned score to Queen's coronation film
A renowned composer who wrote the score for a film of the late Queen's coronation will be honoured by a Shropshire orchestra - with her niece among the ensemble.
The Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra will play Doreen Carwithen's 'Bishop Rock Overture' in a concert marking 100 years since the composer's birth in November 1922.
Joining them in the viola section at the concert will be Doreen's niece Jenni Carwithen. The orchestra will play on Wednesday at Shrewsbury School's Alington Hall from 7.30pm.
While Doreen’s more famous husband William Alwyn earned a CBE for his contribution to music, with five symphonies, four operas and numerous concertos, classic film scores and string quartets to his name, his wife’s output has been largely overlooked, until recently.
Doreen’s centenary year (2022) has seen a renewed interest in her work; there was a music festival in her name in her birthplace village of Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, earlier in the summer and the BBC Proms included three of her works in its 2022 season.
John Moore, former director of music at Shrewsbury School, and conductor of the Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra, said: “Being able to introduce the orchestra and audiences to these neglected works has been a huge privilege.
"Doreen's composition ‘Bishop Rock’ is a masterpiece in film score-writing, for a film never made, but one that on hearing her music, exists immediately in our minds. The piece is beautifully constructed and one can sense the narrative of the wind, the surging sea, the calling of sea birds and the calm after the storm and freedom of the wide open space around the Bishop Rock lighthouse with a vista to the distant western horizon.
"It is exhilarating writing, and it stands comparison with any other work in that genre that I can think of. She was a real craftsman and it's high time her music was heard more widely."
Doreen earned a reputation for speed and accuracy under pressure in the male-dominated film industry of the 1940s and 50s, penning scores to British classics including ‘Men of Sherwood Forest’ and ‘The Three Cases of Murder’.
She came with high musical pedigree, having won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied the piano and cello.
Her first orchestral work, the overture ‘One Damn Thing After Another’ was premiered at Covent Garden by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Boult in 1947. She went on to write scores for more than 30 films, for the official film of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which she finished in just three days.
‘Bishop Rock’ is described as conjuring visions of the thundering Atlantic and high seas swelling around this westernmost part of the Scilly Isles.
Tickets cost £15 for adults and £2 for children. To book visit ticketsource.co.uk/shrewsbury-symphony-orchestra.
