There is a story about a company chairman who had been given tickets to the performance of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. He couldn't go, so he passed the tickets on to his work study consultant. The next morning, the chairman asked him how he had enjoyed the performance, and instead of a few plausible observations, was handed a memorandum which read:

1) For considerable periods, the four oboe players had nothing to do. Now their numbers should be reduced, and their work should be spread over the whole orchestra, thus eliminating peaks of inactivity.

2) All of the twelve violins were playing identical notes. Now this seemed unnecessary duplication and the staff of this section should be cut drastically. If a large sound is really required this could be obtained through an electronic amplifier.

3) Much effort was absorbed in the playing of demi semi-quavers. Now this seems an excessive refinement, and it is recommended that all notes should be rounded up to the nearest semi-quaver. If this were done, it would be possible to use trainees and lower grade operators.

4) No useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the passage that had already been played by the strings. If all such redundant passages were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two hours to twenty minutes. If Schubert had attended to these matters, he would probably have been able to finish his symphony after all.