- MUSIC & OTHER SAMPLES -

Scattered throughout this site are a number of samples of Carey Blyton's works: music, prose and poetry.

For those who do not wish to browse the whole site but do wish to quickly 'get to grips' with Carey's words and music we bring all these samples together here.

We include, of course, some details with the samples below - but if you wish to know more (including how to obtain) you will have to find the relevant pages within the site!

Sub-titled Eastern Song and also known as the Hindu Slave Girl's Song, The Rose and the Nightingale comes from Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Sadko. Carey Blyton arranged it for the trio 'Sheherazade' in 1995, exploiting the alto flute's ability to play music of an 'eastern' nature very convincingly.
We include here the whole of this piece, sung in English by Verona Chard, soprano, accompanied by Denise Dance, alto flute, and Fiona Clifton-Welker, harp. This recording is taken from Carey Blyton, The Early Songs, published by Upbeat Recordings Ltd (URCD160).
" ... this superb new album ... very strongly recommended ..." Musical Opinion

We include here just the first half-minute or so of After Hokusai, composed by Carey in 1983.
This version was performed as part of a recital at Akron University by Stephen Preston and Amara Guitry playing baroque flutes.

Carey Blyton composed Lyrics from the Chinese, Op.16 in 1953/4 and re-scored / added to it in 1957/8, and the first performance of the revised work was given in 1967.
We include here song no.2: Drinking Song, and below, song no.6: Sacrificial Song - both in their entirety - sung by Ian Partridge with the Britten Sinfonia.

Lyrics from the Chinese, Op.16 - song no. 6: Sacrificial Song - see above.

Carey Blyton worked in the documentary film and television field from 1963. We include here two tracks from the CD Carey Blyton: The Film Production Music (Apollo Sound, APSCD225).
This first is titled Arctic Terns hovering and is taken from a short film made by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in 1972.

This second is titled Inspector Lestrade of the Yard and depicts the eponymous Inspector (who "adheres to conventional methods to the exclusion of inspiration") in a pilot film for a series of episodes on Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was never conventional!

Taken from the CD 'The Choral Music of Carey Blyton' we include here War Song of the Saracens, although we recommend you listen to it whilst reading the page devoted to the piece. Click here to take you straight to it.

Taken from the same CD, we also include The Mistletoe Bough, Carey Blyton's arrangement of a traditional Christmas carol and dedicated to Charles Proctor and the Alexandra Choir, dating from 1971.

Also taken from the same CD, we include the first verse of The Christ Church Carol. The words are Carey's own and the carol was completed on August 16th 1978.

Carey Blyton accepted a number of commissions from the BBC, including incidental music for three Dr Who serials. We include here three extracts, taken from his CD Sherlock Holmes meets Dr Who. The first is from Deep Space, taken from his Vogan Suite, Op.101.

The second is from Chants and Variants, from his Dalek Suite, Op.103.

The third, also from the Dalek Suite, is from Dalek 'March' and Retreat.

As background music to our 'Carey Blyton Photograph Album' page we play Bach-Chat for Two Guitars.
We include again here the whole of this piece, played by the Hand/Dupré Guitar Duo.
This recording is taken from Carey Blyton, The Guitar Music, published by Apollo Sound (ASCD 203).

Carey's Collected Short Stories  were published in 2002 by Fand Music Press. We include here one of the book editor's favourites 'Old Sam and the Acorns' - included here in its entirety.

Included in the same book is Summer in the Country, a fragment of autobiography dealing with Carey's experiences as a wartime evacuee. We included here the first chapter 'An Unexpected Departure'.

From his most famous book Bananas in Pyjamas And Other Nonsense we offer a short poem 'The Axolotl' - about as charming nonsense as you are likely to find!

In the 1980s, Carey wrote three Victorian mini-melodramas for schools, based on the most famous 'horror stories' of the time. We include here:

From 'Sweeney Todd, The Barber':
I'm Sweeney Todd, The Barber
For more music samples see the CD Details page under Works/CDs.

From 'Dracula', or 'The Vampire Vanquished':
Count Dracula's Czardas
For more music samples see the CD Details page under Works/CDs.

From 'Frankenstein' or 'A Bolt from the Blue':
Animal Biology  (or Frankenstein's Song)

Taken from the CD 'British Light Music Premieres, Vol. 4' (CDLX7190) we include here 3 extracts from
Suite: The Golden Road to Samarkand (1991).
For full details see the related page, clicking here will take you directly to it.

Extract from 'Ships of the Desert'
Extract from 'Caravanserai - Songs and Dances'
Extract from 'Samarkand!'