Reflected Arcs is my first piece to make a thorough exploration of musical symmetry and reflections. Much like seeing your reversed self in a mirror, the reflections in the piece are repetitions of a musical idea, but with one significant parameter inverted. For example, the second movement introduces a floating, sliding melody in the violin - this melodic line reappears in the fourth movement, but now the register has been flipped from high to low. The first and fifth movements are similarly linked; in the first movement the piano plays a triadic chord progression while the violin plays scurrying atonal figuration, and in the fifth movement the roles are reversed. The third movement contains symmetry within itself, featuring a 'gesture canon', first led by the piano, later led by the violin. The entire piece forms a loose palindrome, but the second half is marked by a reflection of the violin’s dynamic range, as controlled by a metal practice mute. Structurally, Reflected Arcs is supported by its polarity, a balance of opposing forces.