Born in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, Carwithen began composing at the age of sixteen. In 1941 she entered the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied with William Alwyn. Adrian Boult conducted her overture ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another, after the novel by John Masefield)) in 1947. 

In 1975 she and Alwyn were married in 1975. After her husband’s death in 1985, she founded the William Alwyn Archive and William Alwyn Foundation to promote his music. 

The Concerto for Piano and Strings was composed in 1948. In her liner note for the Chandos recording of the work, Carwithen says it “contains much vigorous, brilliant writing for the soloist set against a sensitive use of the strings. The first movement has two subjects. The first, announced immediately by the piano in octaves, grows into a whole section in which it receives a variety of treatment. After a morendo the soloist then introduces the second subject, which is immediately followed by a quasi-cadenza. The two themes, developed and recapitulated, bring the movement to a close. The slow movement begins with the solo violin announcing a melody which is echoed by the piano. Their duet continues throughout the movement, accompanied by muted strings. The Finale is introduced by a broad, chordal melody played by the strings against a rising scale passage on the piano. These two ideas form the main material for the whole movement. It ends with an extended cadenza followed by a coda which states again the broad melody of the main theme.”

~Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2024.