This is from a NY Times article:
No Fortissimo? Symphony Told to Keep It Down
By SARAH LYALL
LONDON — They had rehearsed the piece only once, but already the
musicians at the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra were suffering. Their
ears were ringing. Heads throbbed.
Tests showed that the average noise level in the orchestra during the
piece, “State of Siege,” by the composer Dror Feiler, was 97.4 decibels,
just below the level of a pneumatic drill and a violation of new
European noise-at-work limits. Playing more softly or wearing
noise-muffling headphones were rejected as unworkable.
So instead of having its world premiere on April 4, the piece was
dropped. “I had no choice,” said Trygve Nordwall, the orchestra’s
manager. “The decision was not made artistically; it was made for the
protection of the players.”
Wow. 97 is waaaaay too loud for anyone.