Elizabeth was born in Hertfordshire to Irish parents. This connection to Ireland had a huge influence on the composer who did consider herself Irish. At the age of ten Elizabeth and her parents moved over to Ireland and this was where the composer had her first musical studies in Dublin. A place at the Royal College of Music brought Elizabeth back to England where she began her studies with Ralph Vaughan Williams. It may well have been around this time that Elizabeth met Frederick Thurston.

It was not until 1945 that a musical partnership developed between Thurston and Maconchy. This culminated in the first Concertino for clarinet and strings. The work received its premier in June 1947 with a broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in November. The conductor on both occasions was Anthony Bernard. Thurston gave the London premier in 1948 with the Jacques Orchestra. Sadly, after these performances the work remained unpublished and unheard until Thea King’s recording with the English Chamber Orchestra. The work is sonorous and impassioned fronting a somewhat tragic tone throughout, that is until the final section of the last movement where D flat major ‘wins’ over D flat minor. The Concertino is divided into three formal movements though it is conceivable that the intent was for a more continuous work with three contrasting sections.

from notes by Peter Cigleris © 2021