Catherine's Theme — The Louis Van Dyke Trio.m4v

The original version of Catherine's Theme — composed by Francis Lai for the French movie Vivre Pour Vivre starring Yves Montand, Annie Girardot and Candice Bergen — pales by comparison to this arrangement made by Louis van Dijk (as his name is written in Dutch) for his 1969 album Pavane. Ingenuously Louis rearranges the sequence of the melody and by doing this uncovers a depth and suspense that Francis Lai himself seems to have overlooked. The rather diddy middle part (check out Lai's version here on Youtube) is moved to the beginning and given a slow workover, while the original opening is moved backwards. The result is almost unrecognizable and a true gem that still speaks to us with a tender voice from the nineteensixties.
It should be noted here that the record has so far not been made available on cd or iTunes by the label Columbia. It's a shame.
CREDITS:
Composed by Francis Lai
Arranged by Louis van Dijk
Louis van Dijk - piano
Jacques Schols - bass
John Engels - drums
John J. Vis - producer
Luc Ludolph - engineer
Kees de Jong - photography
From the album Pavane (Columbia 1969)