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Marking the centenary of her birth, Donald Macleod delves into the little-known world of 20th-century British composer Doreen Carwithen.

Doreen Carwithen is one of only a handful of female British composers who worked in the film industry in the 1940s and 1950s. Dramas, mysteries, horror flicks, documentaries, the thirty-plus films she scored form a substantial part of her musical legacy.

An award-winning student, Carwithen first came to critical attention in the concert hall, with the catchily titled ODTAA, One damn thing after another, in 1947. Predictably, newspaper headlines made much of her gender and her youth. She was just 24. It seemed as if a bright future lay ahead, yet, at the beginning of the 1960s, Carwithen would stop writing music, a situation which perhaps in part explains why her music dropped off the radar for many years. One hundred years since her birth, Donald Macleod brings to light the little-known yet fascinating story of this 20th-century British composer.

This week Donald Macleod is joined in conversation by Leah Broad, whose new biography of Carwithen is due out next year. They chart Carwithen’s career from the age of five, when she began piano and violin under the guidance of her musical mother, to the moment when she ceased to compose.

Today, they take a peek inside the Carwithen’s family home where Doreen’s mother, Dulcie, a music teacher, was determined that her daughters should have every opportunity to fulfil her dream of becoming a concert pianist.

Men of Sherwood Forest (excerpt), arr Philip Lane
´óÏó´«Ã½ Concert Orchestra
Gavin Sutherland, conductor

To the Public Danger (Prelude and Apotheosis), arr. Philip Lane
´óÏó´«Ã½ Concert Orchestra
Gavin Sutherland, conductor

Serenade for tenor and piano
Clear had the day been
James Gilchrist, tenor
Nathan Williamson, piano

String Quartet no 1
III: Allegro
Sorrel Quartet

Concerto for piano and strings
Howard Shelley, piano
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Hickox, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith