This is yet another work by Anderson that efficiently depicts a scene, something made possible only by the composer's deep understanding of instrumentation used for reproducing lifelike sounds: 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.
