Balance is critical in all orchestral music. The most important parts. themes or melodic lines. should be heard clearly, while the accompaniment provides support and interest without drowning them out. The overall combination of sounds should produce the right orchestral color.

In the past century, some instruments have developed in a way that makes good balance hard to achieve. In Brahms's day, everybody could play fortissimo and nobody was drowned out; otherwise he'd never have written fortissimo for every instrument! Today in his works the brass needs to play inside the sound of an orchestra, often more quietly than is written in the score. Modern brass instruments are louder than those Brahms knew: their tubes are bigger and wider. Conducting the New Queen's Hall Orchestra in London was an eye-opener. The musicians play on instruments like those used in London in the 1920s: gut strings, wooden flutes, French horns, and narrow-bore trumpets and trombones. I've conducted a variety of pieces with this group, and I've hardly ever had to say anything about balance. The sound of the brass instruments is directional, like a bunch of white-hot needles. It's focused, colorful, and brilliant, but it doesn't spread or drown out the strings and woodwinds.