The Four Horsemen is a programmatic suite based on the reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the Bible. Each movement represents one of the horsemen musically and stands by itself thematically, although the piece is unified throughout by certain motivic ideas.

The first movement, War, is opened by a horn call suggesting the historical images of heroicism identified with war. Soon, though, the picture turns dark and frightening, indicating the horrible nature of true war. The second movement, Famine, explores the experience of starvation, building from nothing toward a huge climactic section of pain and closing with the inescapable calm of death. Pestilence begins with a horn solo, in a passage reminiscent of a Gregorian chant. The association with religion is expanded upon later when the low brass plays a chorale-like section. Once again, the beauty of the moment is turned around and the music metamorphizes into horror and pain. The final movement, Death, represents the worst of the four horsemen and is, therefore, the climactic movement of the suite. The end of the work suggests a feeling of peace and of the quiet inevitability of death.