Captain Noah & His Floating Zoo was written in 1970; a witty, jazz-infused account of an evergreen story, it remains irresistible to this day. One of several light-hearted ‘oratorios’ written around the same time, for a younger audience, about memorable Old Testament characters (see also Joseph, Jonah and Daniel), it was the singular result of an inspired collaboration between old friends Joseph Horovitz (1926–2022) and Michael Flanders (1922–1975). Both are distinguished names. Horovitz had escaped Vienna for London with his parents in 1938 and became a renowned composer, pianist and teacher – a professor at London’s Royal College of Music as well as the composer of seventy-something celebrated film and television scores. Flanders was a brilliant lyricist and performer – one half of the duo Flanders & Swann, masters of musical satire and greatly loved for their charming comic songs.

Captain Noah was primarily intended to be sung in schools, in unison or two parts, and in 1976, it received the Ivor Novello Award for the Best British Work for Children. In the preface to the Novello edition the authors indicate that they “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.”
Horovitz himself immediately arranged the piece for six male voices and jazz piano so that the King’s Singers (the original line-up) could give the London premiere and record the work in their exquisite, inimitable style. Yet another version was made by the composer for one soloist (variously the voice of God, Noah and Narrator) and large chorus with jazz trio. It is this version that the City of London Choir has enjoyed recording with Roderick Williams.

Ten short movements tell Noah’s story. God’s world-weariness turns to condemnation of Fun City, and Noah being charged with building an ark to preserve mankind and all the creatures of Earth. After forty days and nights of rain, eventually dry land appears complete with rainbow representing hope and the promise of peace. The narrative culminates with an order to go forth, increase and multiply – by two, by two, by two, by two… The cantata exploits genres of music from waltz to samba to hoe-down as it recounts the story that has captured the imagination of all ages over centuries. It is as entertaining and resonant today as ever.
Like the rest of the world, the City of London Choir was forced to stop singing in March 2020. Its last concert before the covid pandemic had, by coincidence, been a performance of Elijah, another Old Testament tale full of divine retribution in the form of famine, fire, flood – and plague. Required to stay at home, choir members kept singing together over the internet as much as they could and eventually, in one of the first live performances in the summer of 2021, the choir reunited physically (albeit socially-distanced) in St Giles Cripplegate in the City of London to perform a kaleidoscopic programme of life-enhancing song in celebration of the return to live music-making. The concert was entitled ‘Sunshine after Rain’, and Captain Noah fitted the bill perfectly.

Remembering the particular joy and hope of that occasion, the choir chose to make a new recording of Captain Noah for the 21st century as its very final project before his retirement with Hilary Davan Wetton, the choir’s inspirational Musical Director for 34 years. The choir commissioned former member Kate Aldrovandi to design the cover art which takes the City of London as its backdrop.

© Jenny Robinson