The Four B’s of Music

Last night we were treated to a great orchestral concert at Arizona State that featured the four B’s of music. Wait, aren’t there three B’s?

I remember the first time I heard the term. A grad student at my undergrad school was telling about another student that on an oral exam for their MM they had been asked to name the three B’s of music and they were so nervous they only got two of them correct.

Traditionally the three B’s of music are Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, although according to the Wikipedia article on the topic the original three B’s were Bach, Beethoven, and Berlioz. The great conductor Hans von Bülow changed it to Brahms, writing in the 1880s “I believe in Bach, the Father, Beethoven, the Son, and Brahms, the Holy Ghost of music.”

Our concert featured music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner. Bruckner would be an excellent choice as a fourth B of music. In our case the work featured was the Finale of his Symphony No. 4, which was performed beautifully. Bravo!

I love hearing these big works, they are a big reason why I wanted to play the horn in an orchestra, but I know not all love hearing Bruckner. I remember an orchestral colleague referring to the week we performed Bruckner as the longest week of the year, and I can understand especially string players not being wild about Bruckner. We have plenty of great passages in the brass though, and for sure this is a type of music that audiences love to hear live; a recording just can’t do it justice.