Ambivalents

This three-movement work for String Orchestra combines lively rhythmic writing with active roles for lower strings. Repeated diatonic figures move through asymmetrical meters, creating a sense of momentum while echoing minimalist approaches to contemporary music. Movements I and III act as energetic bookends around a quiet, reflective middle movement featuring solo Cello and Violin. Together, the three movements balance motion and stillness, clarity and tension, and ensemble color with moments of individual expression. Merriam-Webster defines ambivalence as “simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings toward an object, person, or action,” and as “continual fluctuation” between one thing and its opposite. The invented title Ambivalents reflects this sense of shifting between opposing ideas and states, emerging through contrasts in tonality, rhythm, and texture.