Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo - Performance

Performance

Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo was conceived as an accommodating work. In the Preface to the Novello edition the authors indicate, "hope it will be useful wherever and whenever groups of singers and musicians need a work of some length to perform together, and that they will arrange, divide and adapt it (within reason) as best suits their available talent and the occasion."

The instrumental possibilities are similarly wide-ranging. Instrumental accompaniment may vary, including solo piano and/or guitar with any of the following instruments: bass, drums, maracas, claves, tambourines and other percussion instruments for special effects. The work, however, does not rely on special effects or other theatrical devices as it was originally conceived as a choral piece. Nevertheless, the authors acknowledge, "semi-dramatic effects or stagings may suggest themselves."

The most well known performance of Captain Noah is inevitably that recorded by The King’s Singers (EMI 1972, reissued Dutton Vocalion 2005). One of the ensemble's earliest recordings, the performance features Joseph Horovitz at the piano. The work has been commercially recorded elsewhere, perhaps most notably as an animated version intended for television broadcast (1972; VHS, 1978).