Yeah, my inclination is to do my best, but I feel like the "if the composer wanted it argument" is kind of lazy. Plenty of pieces get put out with wrong notes. Is that what the composer wanted? I have talked to one band composer who told me and has since publicly stated there are certain things he wished he would have wrote or fixed on XX piece.
Again, I am with you on me needing to balance, but don't we "make adjustments" to pieces all the time?