Orion was composed for the Trio con Brio; the title takes its name from letters found in the name of the ensemble for which it was written, and provided inspiration for the moods in each of the four movements. The first movement serves as a brief introduction; it begins and ends with swooping parallel scalar motion, and in between it settles into a punctuated, fragmented texture. Movement two is moderately slow and quiet, and features ostinato patterns in the piano and complementary melodies in the clarinet and viola. The third movement, in A-B-A form, begins and ends with relatively simple but disjointed tonal chords and melodic line. It moves into a fast middle section in which the piano plays jazzy ostinato patterns and the clarinet and viola move in parallel fifths, among other things. The middle section rises to loud climaxes, and when it falls back, the movement returns to the opening ideas. The final movement begins and ends with the same swooping scales that opened the piece, but immediately following the brief introduction, movement four becomes a tango in the style of Piazzolla, complete with percussive effects on the viola.