B-B-Best composer? Take your pick

Conductor Hans von Bulow referred to them as "The Three B's."
The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Isaiah Jackson will perform works by these three great composers -- Bach, Beethoven and Brahms -- at 8 p.m. March 12 in Powers Auditorium.
Bach is represented by "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." With some of Bach's church cantatas, parts have become more celebrated than the whole, having become popularized through transcriptions. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" the 10th number of Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (1716), fits that description.
Brahms, like Bach, was at the peak of his brilliance at the end of an epoch. Bach was the culmination of the age of counterpoint, Brahms at the age of Romanticism.
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson joins the orchestra to perform Brahms Second Piano Concerto, a composition that was the fruit of the composer's maturity. It is a work of such large structural dimensions that no other work in the concerto literature has such scope.
Since winning the Chopin International Competition 35 years ago, Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of the classic and romance periods, as well as the works of the 21st century. To date, he has at his command some 80 piano concertos.
There are few composers who inspire the awe that makes Wagner speak of Beethoven as a "Titan" and leads Tchaikovsky to call him a god. Beethoven composed nine symphonies spanning 23 years and a continent of symphonic development.
Conclusion
From this greatest symphonist of them all, the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven's Eighth Symphony, concluding their salute to the Three B's. Maintaining the tradition that even-numbered Beethoven symphonies are comparatively lighter in form than the composer's odd-numbered symphonies, the Eighth embraces an infectious gaiety and irrepressible high spirit throughout the four movements.
Concert conversations will be conducted before the concert at 7 p.m. with Theodore Albrecht.
XTickets for the concert saluting the Three B's, which is underwritten in part by Ricciuti Balog & amp; Partners Architects, are available by calling the symphony center box office at (330) 744-0264 or on line at www.youngstownsymphony.com.