Leroy Anderson was quite versatile in the realm of light classics, composing music depicting a ticking clock (The Syncopated Clock), a sleigh ride over a snow-covered landscape (Sleigh Ride), the workings of a typewriter (The Typewriter), and the actions of several animals, as in Horse and Buggy and this clever gem, The Waltzing Cat. Several of these works exhibit Anderson's grasp of instrumentation, his deft ability to orchestrate lifelike sounds to portray some utterance made by an animal. At the end of Sleigh Ride, for example, we hear a trumpet whine like a weary horse, and here in The Waltzing Cat, the strings cleverly depict the cat's meow. The work opens with a lazy but chipper waltz theme played by the strings, whose use of portamento on key notes creates the meow effect. The middle section is reminiscent of cartoon music, with lots of playful, cat-and-mouse-like action. The main theme returns in all its colorful nonchalance and charming meows in the latter half close out this charming work. While Anderson's American musical persona dominates this work, echoes of Johann Strauss Jr. vaguely hover above the music in the outer sections. ~ All Music Guide
