Dual Origins is a through-composed poem for orchestra, which addresses a series of oppositions and extreme contrasts. Among these contrasts are the dynamic (loud vs. soft) and registral (high vs. low) extremes of the orchestra, the ensemble's varying timbres (strings, winds, and percussion), the music's degrees of dissonance and consonance, and the existence of a tonal center versus what's commonly referred to as tonal ambiguity. The majority of the musical material is derived from the simple whole-step motive that opens the piece, and in the absence of any traditional formal structure, this motivic unity creates an alternate type of cohesion that serves as the glue between the individual sections. The last of these sections is a climactic conclusion, at which point the piece's various conflicts have all found either compromise or conquest.