Carey > Celebrations > Carey Blyton & Friends

Publicity material

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The initial monochrome A5 flyer that was provided to interested parties

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The main colour poster was printed at A5, A4 and A3 sizes
(The similarity in design between the poster and this website is not a coincidence!)

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This quarter-page advert appeared in BBC Music magazine, in the May 2012 and June 2012 issues

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This full-page advert appeared in Classical Music magazine, in the 24 March 2012 issue

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This quarter-page advert appeared in Music Teacher magazine, in the April 2012 issue, and in Classical Music magazine, in the 5 May 2012 issue

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This third-of-page advert appeared in This is London magazine, in the Early Spring Bank Holiday and Friday 18 May issues, along with a news feature

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The front cover of the Souvenir Programme

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 cover

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).

Download the Souvenir Programme


Pictures from the event

Photos by Richard Hallas except where otherwise noted

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The audience gathers outside The Warehouse, Theed Street, London

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Concert reception desk with programmes and newly-updated Carey Blyton interview booklets; music magazines containing adverts for this concert are also on show

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Scores of works by Carey Blyton and others, published by Fand Music Press, were on sale at the event

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Also available was a range of CDs of Carey’s music

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Ready to start the concert

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During the performance
[Photo: John Mitchell]

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Applause at the end of the concert

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Katharine Durran, piano (left)
and Alison Smart, soprano (right)
[Photo: John Mitchell]

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Katharine Durran, piano (left)
and Alison Smart, soprano (right)
[Photo: John Mitchell]


Reviews

Carey was essentially a miniaturist, but the range and beauty of his creations were very evident here.

Brian Hick, Lark Reviews, 20th May 2012

…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