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"In reviews I often read: 'He does it with a smaller ensemble because it’s cheaper.' Indeed, it is cheaper, but that is not the reason why we choose to do so. I am likewise often reminded that great composers such as Mozart and Beethoven loved to work with large orchestras. Indeed, that is also true. But they did not often have orchestras of such size at their disposal. The Eroica Symphony was premièred in the Viennese palace of Prince Lobkowitz, in a hall for private performances not much larger than 115 square metres and 8 metres high. The usual number of musicians in that venue was twenty-four, allowing for the same number of members in the audience. There was hardly room for more. The Mehlgrube, the Viennese venue where Mozart premièred his piano concertos, was not much larger. Hence my idea: if the number of musicians was so reduced, why not feature a line-up that follows exactly what we find in Beethoven’s score? It calls for one first violin, one second violin, two violas, cello, bass, and the usual winds. In contrast, when the Orchestre de Paris plays Beethoven’s Eroica in the new Philharmonie de Paris with 14 first and 12 second violins, 10 violas, 8 cellos, and 6 double basses, it sounds fantastic – but it is not something by Beethoven, it is already an interpretation. Conductors in Paris and everywhere else do this too, of course, because in such large concert halls they would not be able to reach the audience by any other means. They could just as well use 13 first violins, or 17; it would make no difference." - Arthur Schoonderwoerd