In keeping with Pruden's drive to achieve greater simplicity, the Soliloquy for Strings was subject to formal revision over an eight-year period; the final version took shape when the composer was studying at the Guildhall School of Music in London.

The title of this work seems to suggest self-communion: the melody exposed in the opening measures effects an arresting plangency and the strong concentration of the string writing throughout continues this tone. But if there is a regretful understatement, so there is a counterweight of heart-lifting fullness that resides in the pliant grace and upsurge of the music.