Florian Noack (piano)
I Wanna Be Like You – The Piano Transcriptions
rec. 2023, Arsonic, Maison de l’écoute, Mons, Belgium
La Dolce Volta LDV121 [73]
I have been bowled over by previous releases by Florian Noack, a Belgian pianist who was a seasoned award winner by the age of fifteen and who went on to study in Cologne with Vassily Lobanov and Basel with Claudio Martinez-Mehner. From an early age his interests lay beyond the standard repertoire and though he has recorded some striking Prokofiev (La Dolce Volta LDV74 review) there are also three discs of piano music by Sergei Liapunov (Ars Produktion ARS38132 and ARS38209 and La Dolce Volta LDV90), Brahms and Medtner (Artalinna ATLA014), an exotic collection entitled Album d’un Voyageur (La dolce volta LDV43) and two previous discs containing his transcriptions (Quartziade Initium and Ars Produktion ARS38148).
Noack shows us again and again that the art of transcription is not dead, that it is indeed a living vital art form; the booklet is effusive describing the act of imitating drums and chords that rub together voluptuously…to transform (the piano) into a full symphony orchestra by adding spices from all the worlds that spin through his head. There is more but we need look nor listen no further to visit those worlds. Like Liszt his transcriptions take the form of faithful renditions such as the Prokofiev Classical symphony or paraphrases and reminiscences like his view of Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful Sheherazade or his take on Johann Strauss.
The Bach Concerto for four Harpsichords is as faithful a transcription as can be imagined, Noack managing to bring all four keyboards and strings down to two hands, ten fingers that bring precision and effortless clarity to bear on Bach’s writing whilst maintaining rhythmic impulse and a marvellous lightness of touch. After transcriptions of Russian music Bach was a new direction and he certainly rose to the challenge. Mendelssohn’s secular cantata The First Walpurgis Night might not seem the most obvious choice for a transcription but it was a work that Noack discovered and enjoyed in compulsory choral sessions in his first year studying in Cologne. It is not a commonly heard work so there must be an element of Liszt’s pioneering efforts on behalf of the unsung and in this masterfully condensed half transcription, half paraphrase Noack matches Liszt imagination and flair. Mendelssohn’s half an hour of music is captured in just 11 minutes; the furious orchestral introduction leads to the contralto solo Könnt ihr so verwegen handeln – could you be so rash? – an old woman warns the druids and heathens of the dangers of reviving May Day traditions. After a brief appearance by the baritone Noack presents the Chief Druid, a bass solo, in Kommt! Kommt! Mit Zachen und mit Gabeln – Come with prongs and pitchforks! – exhorting the worshipers to frenzied dancing in their depiction of the devilish hordes; what a wonderful scherzo this is. He rounds off the piece with the sort of hymn-like music that would normally signal the triumph of good over evil but here it is the druids and heathens celebrating their rites having scared off the christians. Noack conjures up a veritable storm at the opening and closes with a life-affirming culmination that would do Liszt or Thalberg proud.
In transcribing Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral masterpiece Scheherazade Noack is certainly not lacking in courage; the work is so familiar and vivid in its orchestral colour that one would think the piano would be a poor substitute. Not at all! In a transcription that often gives the impression of more than one pianist present Noack takes us through Scheherazade’s world’s, giving us a taste of the epic range of narratives much as Rimsky-Korsakov did, never intending to depict specific tales. He takes the essence of each movement, be that calm seas, terrible storms and shipwrecks, adventurous princes or tales of love and distills it into a musical whole that is more fantasy than transcription in much the same way that Prokofiev did in his fantasy recorded on a 1923 reproducing roll though Noack’s has more detail and scope. Other than the scherzo at the heart of The Story of the Kalandar Prince all the themes are here and they are put together with such skill and played with such consummate artistry, enviably crafted dynamics, narrative sense, natural phrasing and effortless ease that I didn’t miss the orchestra at all; indeed as I listened time after time I seemed to be hearing more and more orchestral detail that Noack somehow manages to bring his fingers to bear upon.
After this sumptuous tone poem Noack turns his attention to Johann Strauss, adding his name to an illustrious pantheon of pianists that includes Carl Tausig, Alfred Grünfeld, Max Reger, Eduard Schütt, Leopold Godowsky, Ignaz Friedman, George Cziffra and many others. Noack’s personal link here is time spent with family enjoying the New Year’s Day concerts and it has been fruitful source of material; prior to this delightful miniature he has transcribed the Frühlingsstimen waltz and the polka Leichtes Blut (the latter can be found on Youtube). Amongst the various, less well known waltzes I’m afraid I only recognise the kiss waltz, previously transcribed by Schütt, but one doesn’t need to know the waltzes to enjoy this sweet treat, lilting and deliciously decorated waltzes imaginatively book-ended by a music box that winds down in the final notes.
I confess that Tielman Susato is a name I am unfamiliar with. He was a renaissance composer who was based in Antwerp and opened the first publishing house in the Netherlands. Noack grew up with some of his music including the set of sixty dances for four instrumentalists La Danserye from which he has chosen three dances Pour Quoy, Dont vient cela and Den Hoboeckendans. The spirit of the dance is still strong but the occasional raucous nature of the originals is replaced with deliciously sly piquant harmonies. Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony could also be said to be bringing the spirit of the past, of Haydn and Mozart, into the present, a work that the composer chose to write without the aid of a piano. Well here it is on the piano and though Prokofiev made a piano transcription of the symphony and indeed recorded the gavotte in 1935 Noack manages to include even more orchestral detail without sacrificing anything in the way of energy, poise, momentum or humour.
Two more pieces are included almost in the way of encores. First is the waltz from Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra, a source of inspiration for artists as diverse as Stanley Kubrick and André Rieu, here given a suitably grand, sweeping interpretation. The final track inspired the recital’s title, I wanna be like you; quite apt considering that Noack finds himself like a full orchestra, like a swing band, like a renaissance ensemble, seemingly like any musical combination he turns his marvellously adept hands to. Originally written as a gift for his sister who loved the song Noack writes that it grew beyond its original plan, ending up as the riotously crazy, quite hair-raisingly technically challenging and wonderfully enjoyable jungle beat and jazz band inspired romp that ends this magnificent disc.
I can’t praise this recital enough; this is the kind of playing that reminds me of everything I love about the piano. Noack is utterly at ease with the instrument, charming and poised, elegant and eloquent, masterful storytelling and scenes painted in bold colours on a vast canvas. Evocative stuff.
Rob Challinor
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Contents
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto for four Harpsichords in A Minor BWV.1065 after Vivaldi (1730?)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
The First Walpurgis Night Op.60 (1831 rev.1843)
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Scheherazade Op.35 (1888)
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Paraphrase on various waltzes
Tielman Susato (b.1500/1515? d.1564/1570?)
Danserye (pub.1551)
Sergei Prokofiev(1891-1953)
Symphony No.1in D Major Op.25 Classical (1916-17)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Waltz No.2 Op.99a from Suite for Variety orchestra No.1
Richard M. Sherman (b.1928) and Robert B. Sherman (1925-2012)
I wanna be like you from Disney’s The Jungle Book (film release 1967)
