Carl Davis: Cranford (Carl Davis Collection Audio CD)

The year is 1841, Victoria was on the throne and music was at the height of the romantic period of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and even the young Wagner. The great cities of Manchester and Liverpool were about to form their orchestras: the Hallé and the Liverpool Philharmonic. However this was far from the world of Cranford, Mrs. Gaskill’s pseudonym for Knutsford. Local music was a small town band, the church and home music-making, however a score for this both comic and moving story had to account for the emotional lives of the characters and help tell their tale.

Cranford is a one-street town and this road brings all the populace in and out, the flowing motion giving the concept for the main title theme. Carl Davis 2009