Kees Vlak

Quatre Jours A Paris

1) 'Jour de Fête.* A quiet sunday atmosphere on the Avenue Foch, a residental area for the well-to-do in Paris. It begins with full-soun­ding chords, with a wealth of added tones. It seems as if many bells are tolling. Birds are tweeting high in the trees. After all this there is a very simple theme without any tension just like a leisure walk. The movement ends the same way it started.2) 'Jour de Java.* The 'Java' is the dance of the Bohemians, the Paris gypsies. It is a very capricious dance, which is represented by at certain moments shrill harmonies and the unexpected changes in tonality of this movement.3) 'Jour de Pluie.* A rainy day. Seated behind the windows of a sidewalk café we observe the reflections on the wet streets. Under a fly-over an accordeon plays a sad melody. Old memories pass through our minds.4) 'Jour de Can-Can.* Whenever one hears 'Can-Can' the name of Jacques Offenbach crosses our minds. It is the dance of the Folies Bergères, a festival which never seems to end. All the time new solo-dancers come jumping forward.