This isn’t working (2026)
Orchestra - picc.1.2.1.bcl.2.—4.2.2.1.—timp—2perc.—strings
Duration: 8.5’
Commissioned by David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony, with support from the America250 Foundation. Premiered by the Albany Symphony June 6, 2026.
Recording
Please contact the composer directly at maxvinetz@gmail.com for an archival recording.
Program note
This isn’t working begins with a basic musical contradiction: the perceived tempo (heard in the woodblock) and the actual tempo (delivered by the conductor) are completely different from one another. This tempo problem rift sets off a jarring narrative, sending the music through rhythmic landscapes that lurch, teeter, pull back, and distend, all before finding ground. Towards the end of the work, the musical material transforms such that the initially perceived tempo becomes the real tempo; but as soon our sense of reality solidifies, it is just as easily taken away.
I owe a great deal of gratitude to the music director, David Alan Miller, and to the musicians of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for lending me your brilliance, expertise, and profound sense of musicianship.