US orchestras are downsizing in post-downturn economy

New York

COMPOSERs have long dreamed of bigger orchestras.

In Mozart's day, when orchestras were small by modern standards, he boasted in a letter of hearing one "with 40 violins" play a symphony of his. Berlioz fantasized about an ensemble with 467 players. And even if it is a bit hyperbolic, there is a reason Mahler's epic Symphony No 8 became known as his "Symphony of a Thousand".