A Month in the Country (String Quartet version), op.611 - violin I

In 1986 Howard Blake was commissioned to write the score for the film 'A Month in the Country', directed by Pat O'Connor and produced by Ken Trodd for Euston Films in conjunction with Channel 4. The score won him the British Film Institute's Anthony Asquith Award for Musical Excellence. The film starred Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh and Miranda Richardson whilst the script was adapted by Simon Gray from the book by J.L.Carr. It is a story of two former soldiers coming to terms with the horrors of the Great War amidst the serenity of the English countryside. One is an archaeologist excavating in a rural churchyard, the other is uncovering a mural as part of the restoration of the church. As sections of the mural gradually re-emerge, so they rediscover themselves and come to terms with the iconoclasm of the first world war.

In 1992 the composer created a concert suite for string orchestra from the film score, a recording of which was made in 1993 by The Northern Philharmonia conducted by Paul Daniel.  This string quartet version of it was created by Howard Blake in March 2010.