Sweeney Todd & Dracula! [Import]

Carey Blyton (Composer), Edna Graham (Conductor), Redbridge Music School Instrumentalists (Orchestra), John Garner (Performer), Ann Hetherington (Performer), Anthony Ince (Performer), Bruce Knight (Performer), David Stowell (Performer), Derek Wright (Performer), Lynne McAdam (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: John Garner, Ann Hetherington, Anthony Ince, Bruce Knight, David Stowell, et al.
• Orchestra: Redbridge Music School Instrumentalists
• Conductor: Edna Graham
• Composer: Carey Blyton
• Audio CD (June 13, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Meridian
• ASIN: B000EMGFMG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,019 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

These two "Victorian melodramas" by Carey Blyton (1932-2002), nephew of the children’s writer Enid Blyton, were commissioned for children by the BBC. Both are written for narrator, unison voices, piano, and optional additional instruments, and are suitable for either school or professional performance. Carey Blyton earned three degrees in music from Trinity College, where he later taught composition. He also pioneered the first academic courses in composing for film, radio and television at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1972-1983). For several years he served as Benjamin Britten’s personal editor, and also edited many works by Gustav Holst. He has written several books for children, of which Bananas in Pyjamas is an English classic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Scary Enough For The Wee Ones, March 20, 2008

By 

James S. Eisenberg - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sweeney Todd & Dracula! (Audio CD)

These are two charming pseudo-Victorian ballad operas for young people, although there are adult roles too. Both are for narrator, soloists, chorus and a small instrumental ensemble. The tunes are wonderful and the stories are handled in a way which gives full reign to the creepiness of the tales without resorting to gross outs. Blyton's seventeen minute "curtain raiser" take on Sweeney takes a similar plot curve to Sondheim's version, premiered two years earlier, minus the gore. (It is interesting that the historical Sweeney Todd was hanged in 1803 and committed most of his crimes in the 1790's, but the stage, film and television versions universally costume the work in various years of the Victorian Era. Blyton specifies 1840, and the recent film of the Sondheim seems to be costumed in the late 1860s or early 1870s.)
The Dracula piece, at twenty five minutes is a more substantial work, and very entertaining.Both works are much influenced by film and television.
The sound recording is very good, but one should note an extreme amount of tracking. This disc lasts forty three minutes and has eighty-one tracks !