Max Vinetz is an American composer whose music draws inspiration from various intersections between improvisatory, popular, and classical forms and aesthetics. His recent and upcoming works address grief, the impact of media on rhetorical structures in music and our daily lives, and structures that circumvent linear narratives.

A deep psychological journey, Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony opens with a stunning brass fanfare, closes with a euphoric final movement, and travels the breadth of human experience in between. Tchaikovsky's life was full of emotional crises, and his 4th Symphony was written during an especially trying time when he was involved with two women. His fourteen-year "affair" with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck was carried on strictly through letters. The two shared a common aversion against physical relations with the opposite sex. He dedicated this work to her, and in a "private" program for her he describes the opening fanfare as "Fate, the fatal power which hinders one in the pursuit of happiness." The second movement shows "another phase of sadness," while the third depicts mild intoxication. The finale includes a restatement of the "fate" theme and ends with the words, "Rejoice in the happiness of others and you can still live."