A modern masterpiece.

James B. Maxwell, a young Canadian composer, brought the original score he created in his studio to a Vancouver concert hall for a live performance.

Seven years ago he changed from the classical “pen and paper composer” to work and produce in a studio, using samples. James B. Maxwell, a purely intuitive composer, finds in Opus 1 and Solo Strings the libraries to create the sound patterns he imagines, not having to deal with technical limits.

During the entire composition process James B. Maxwell used the samples of the Vienna Symphonic Library and found new and truly inspiring ways to impress his atonal/impressionistic style and created reflectere, a quintet that is both expressive and romantic. The "mock up" you hear is created with the Horizon Series products, Opus 1 and Solo Strings, with the exception of the piano and identical to the one he used during composition.

On October 17, 2004 the live premiere of reflectere took place in the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, commissioned by Standing Wave and the British Columbia Arts Council. The members of the performing Standing Wave are: A-K Coope - clarinet, Rebecca Whilting - violin, Peggy Lee - cello, Allen Stiles - piano, and Vern Griffith - percussion.

“Musically, over the past few years, I have turned to a method of purely intuitive composition -- I'm thinking particularly of my approach to form. I do not follow any preconceived plan, but rather make decisions on a moment-to-moment basis as to how the composition is going to develop. This is the main reason why a computer/VSL-based system is ideal for me.”

“What immediately struck me about working with the VSL was the profound difference it made to have true legato during composition. Suddenly, the infinite variety of musical phrasings were available to me, even in my notation-based environment, and I found my musical imagination instantly refreshed. Somewhat paradoxically, I found myself working in a way that I hadn’t done since I first started using samples – I was auralizing complete passages first, and then putting them ‘to paper’ in what was essentially their final form. Thus, after years of feeling somewhat controlled by my computer, I suddenly found myself back in the driver’s seat, telling my computer exactly what I wanted to hear, and hearing it with every expressive detail in place.”

Reflectere, an original score created with Vienna Symphonic Library’s samples, made its way into a live concert hall.