19 August 2026

Scoring: 2.2.2.2-2.2.2.0-timp.2perc-hp-strings

Duration: c. 12 minutes

Availability of performing materials: Goodmusic https://www.goodmusicpublishing.co.uk/products/GMCO077/suffolk-suite--pack

Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003) was a trailblazing composer of British film music. Her Suffolk Suite is a concert work written in 1964 at the request of the music master at Framlingham College, Suffolk, for the boys to perform when H.R.H. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone and the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, came to open their new Assembly Hall. The four movements develop musical material that Carwithen originally wrote for the film East Anglian Holiday, a nostalgic travelogue produced by British Transport Films in 1954.

I had heard a performance of Carwithen’s Piano Concerto given by Alexandra Dariescu and the Manchester Camerata conducted by John Andrews and really enjoyed it. I’d also seen Suffolk Suite advertised in Goodmusic’s catalogue. I was looking for repertoire that would diversify a light music programme and this seemed ideal.

Score and parts are available through Goodmusic in a pack for £55.00 although we were able to source the performing materials through Liverpool Music Library.

The Suite comprises four movements: The Prelude, Orford Ness, Suffolk Morris, and Framlingham Castle. The compositional style will be familiar to anyone who has watched popular British series about the aristocratic and working classes such as Upstairs, Downstairs or Downton Abbey. The Prelude is arresting with some good parts for brass who might be under-utilized in other light music repertoire. Orford Ness is a really affecting, reflective movement with ‘watery’ harp motifs and some lovely wind writing. The third movement, Suffolk Morris, comprises a catchy jig framing a beautiful folk-like melody which appears first in the oboe and blooms in a repetition in tutti strings. The last movement is, perhaps, a little repetitive and the least effectively scored but it makes for a short, climatic finish.

Because all instruments get something interest to play this was a popular piece in rehearsal, especially the middle two movements. We have a player in Hope Metropolitan Orchestra who is a skilled, traditional Irish folk fiddlers and he was able to help us reel off the jig very effectively.

In the run up to the concert our social media posts had included interesting facts about Carwithen. Most notably Carwithen was the first person to be selected for the new J Arthur Rank Apprenticeship Scheme in 1947 and she wrote the score for the official film of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 in just a few days. It was good to hear from some members of the audience that they had come to the concert because they were interested to hear more about her and her music.