Carey Blyton & Friends
80th Anniversary Concert, 19th May 2012
Carey Blyton & Friends was a special commemorative concert held in The Warehouse, Theed Street, London to mark Carey Blyton’s 80th anniversary. The event was organised by Fand Music Press: Peter Thompson (a friend and former pupil of Carey) was responsible for the planning, co-ordination and arrangements surrounding the event, and Richard Hallas designed the posters and magazine adverts, the online publicity and the collectible Souvenir Programme.
A capacity audience was treated to a superb performance of music by Carey and other composers, given by the soprano Alison Smart and her accompanist Katharine Durran. Notable members of the audience included Mary Blyton, the composers Peter Thompson, John Mitchell, Gary Higginson and Frank Bayford (the latter of whom also contributed to the concert by reading selections from Dr Shinfiddler’s Musical Zoo), and the music critic Robert Matthew-Walker, who had always been supportive of Carey’s work and had contributed to his 70th birthday celebration.
The programme included several works by Carey for voice and piano, and for piano solo. Most of the other composers whose works were presented were friends and pupils of Carey, or composers in whose music Carey was particularly interested. The concert included three premiere performances: Dawn by Peter Thompson, Welcome, Somer by Sir Arnold Bax and In the Highlands by George Butterworth, in an adaptation by John Mitchell.
A summary of the programme is as follows:
Carey Blyton | Lachrymae—In Memoriam John Dowland
Two Pensive Songs Three Impressions Prayers from the Ark (Selection) Lyrics from the East Dirge for St Patrick’s Night Park Lane Stroll A Ghost from the Past Indigo Blues The Flea Readings from Dr Shinfiddler’s Musical Zoo |
|
---|---|---|
George Butterworth | In the Highlands | —World premiere performance |
Sir Arnold Bax | Welcome, Somer | —World premiere performance |
Peter Thompson | Dawn | —World premiere performance |
E. J. Moeran | Six Songs of Seumas O’Sullivan (Selection) | |
Peter Warlock | Songs (Selection) | |
John Mitchell | The Half-moon Westers Low | |
Derek Foster | Two Folk Tunes | |
Frank Bayford | Songs for Children’s Dreams |
Fand Music Press’s concert details page has been archived for posterity and contains, among other things, a detailed listing of all the music performed at the event and a summary of review comments that were published in the days afterwards.
Souvenir programme
A copy of the Carey Blyton & Friends Souvenir Programme is provided here as a PDF file. The file is intended for on-screen viewing, not for printing, and the images have been reduced in quality in order to keep the file to a manageable size. Even so, beware that this is still quite a large download (13½ MB).
Pictures from the event
Photos by Richard Hallas except where otherwise noted
Reviews
Carey was essentially a miniaturist, but the range and beauty of his creations were very evident here.
…the delightful concert at The Warehouse […] on May 19, marking what would have been Carey Blyton’s 80th birthday, brought not only a representative selection of Blyton’s music but also music by his friends and pupils, performed by musicians who clearly found themselves instinctively in sympathy with his art. The result was an unalloyed delight … An excellent and, in its way, moving evening of music.
—Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, July–August p51–52, 2012
…Blyton’s impressive Lachrymae […] was most excellently conveyed by the evening’s main artists, Alison Smart (soprano) and Katharine Durran (piano).
—Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, July–August p52, 2012
Blyton’s songs found admirable interpreters in these two musicians; as did those by the other composers represented.
—Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, July–August p52, 2012
…there was enough variety in the programme to display the many facets of this interesting composer…
—Malcolm Rudland, Peter Warlock Society Newsletter, no 91
…the concert displayed much of Carey’s playfulness, pastiche and humour.
—Malcolm Rudland, Peter Warlock Society Newsletter, no 91
…fertile adventurous musical mind with a keen sense of humour.
—Malcolm Rudland, Peter Warlock Society Newsletter, no 91