Florian Noack: I Wanna Be Like You
La Dolce Volta

Having issued three earlier collections on La Dolce Volta, Belgian pianist Florian Noack (b. 1990) continues his relationship with the label with I Wanna Be Like You. Both parties mutually benefit from the arrangement: the label presents his releases impeccably in hardback, book-like editions, while he provides it with one exceptional collection of piano artistry after another. One of those prior releases was exclusively devoted to Prokofiev; the new one includes the Russian master again but as part of an eclectic set that includes pieces by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, J. S. Bach, and others. Two highlights are the treatments given Prokofiev's Symphony no.1 in D major op. 25 (aka the ‘Classical') and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade op. 35, even if the seventy-two-minute album takes its title from a song in Disney's The Jungle Book. Noack's a serious artist, but, as the inclusion of the irreverent “I Wanna Be Like You” shows, he's got a humorous side too.

I Wanna Be Like You is, of course, distinguished by Noack's piano virtuosity; as significant is the fact that all of its selections are transcriptions created by the globe-trotting, prize-winning pianist, with six of them world premiere recordings. It's something he's been doing for years, as far back as when at the age of sixteen he transcribed Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. Presumably, producing a transcription of Bach's Concerto for four harpsichords in A minor BWV 1065 is a more straightforward exercise than doing the same for Scheherazade when its luxuriant orchestral score is so much a part of its character. In such an interpretation, Noack is called upon to make choices that go far beyond rote transcription. The pianist himself refers to the process as “a form of creativity and ingenuity that forces me to approach my instrument differently, searching for new textures, richness, colours or ways to combine my ten fingers.”

As Bach's harpsichord concerto was itself based on Vivaldi's Concerto for four violins RV 580, Noack had the advantage of seeing how Bach gave to the harpsichords the roles Vivaldi assigned to the strings—not that the pianist wouldn't have been up to the challenge in its absence. In this opening piece, we're reminded of Noack's tremendous gifts as a pianist and impressed by his fluid transcriptions of Bach's material. Even when presented in their piano form, it's possible to ‘hear' the uptempo patterns in the opening allegro as they would be played by harpsichords, and the same could be said about the rapidly flowing runs and contemplative gestures in the central and third movements. In its original form, Mendelssohn's The First Walpurgis Night, a Goethe-inspired work that “describes the Druids' attempts to practise their pagan rituals in the face of opposition from burgeoning Christianity” (Noack's words), is a cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra and thus receives a substantial makeover from the pianist. At eleven minutes, the dramatic, seamlessly integrated work gives him ample stylistic ground to explore, from lyrical, impish, and wry episodes to grandiose passages and diabolical devilry.

Noack distills Scheherazade into a four-part showstopper that's about half the length of the original but retains its luscious quality using purely pianistic means. Even with the orchestral timbres stripped away, the work's sinuous melodies retain their transfixing impact. The introductory violin theme is still intoxicating when delivered via piano, as are the emphatic and delicate melodies that follow (see the entrancing third part, “The Young Prince and the Young Princess,” as an illustration). Extending across twenty-two minutes, Rimsky-Korsakov's stylistic panorama offers an even greater showcase for Noack's talents than Mendelssohn's. Composed immediately before the 1917 Revolution, Prokofiev's first symphony is loved for its vivacity, melodic richness, and neo-classical character (the composer himself referred to its “Mozartian classicism”). All such qualities are present and accounted for in Noack's rendition, which at fourteen minutes is shorter than some orchestral versions but only slightly so. The “Larghetto” is as beguiling here as it is in the full-scale arrangement, while the “Molto vivace” is given a suitably effervescent reading.

Offsetting those large-scale works are smaller ones. Under the title Paraphrase on various waltzes, Noack collects themes from lesser-known pieces by Johann Strauss II into a six-minute setting that's not short on charm. Its pretty opening figure was imagined by the pianist to be a music-box figurine gradually coming to life, and the material that follows is as endearing. Concise too is Noack's treatment of Tielman Susato's Danserye (1551), which gathers enticing dance miniatures by the Antwerp-based printer and composer into a tidy, four-and-a-half-minute package. From his Suite for Variety Orchestra no. 1, Shostakovich's “Waltz no.2 op.99a” was written for the Soviet film The First Echelon (1956) and has since become familiar due to its presence in movies by Stanley Kubrick and Lars von Trier. Anyone who's seen Eyes Wide Shut knows that it would be a far lesser film were Shostakovich's macabre waltz not part of its soundtrack.

The album comes to a cheeky end with a rollicking, stride-inflected rendition of “I wanna be like you,” composed by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert, for 1967's The Jungle Book. Created originally as a gift for his sister, Noack's version subsequently expanded to become the New Orleans jazz-styled number presented here. Its placement as the recording's closing piece earmarks it as a natural encore choice for Noack's solo recitals. The cliché holds that variety's the spice of life, and in featuring such a diverse range of material his latest release offers ample evidence in support of the contention. I Wanna Be Like You might takes its title from a Disney movie song, but the territory it encompasses is impressively broad.

June 2024