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).
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Famous quotes containing the word performance:
“Still be kind,
And eke out our performance with your mind.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“The audience is the most revered member of the theater. Without an audience there is no theater. Every technique learned by the actor, every curtain, every flat on the stage, every careful analysis by the director, every coordinated scene, is for the enjoyment of the audience. They are our guests, our evaluators, and the last spoke in the wheel which can then begin to roll. They make the performance meaningful.”
—Viola Spolin (b. 1911)