This work is inspired by four paintings by the French painter Georges Seurat, but does not attempt to recreate his pointillist technique in musical terms. The first movement, Parade, contrasts the strange gas-lit world of La Parade de Cirque: Invitation to the Sideshow, which features a sinister-looking trombone player and his ghostly acolytes, with the cool detached stance of that great masterpiece A Bathing Place: Asnières. The second movement, Can Can, recreates the world of two other paintings: Le Cirque and Le Chahut, which depicts a curiously stylised Can Can in full swing, accompanied by a pit orchestra. The phrase "faire du chahut" means to make a racket!
