‘I think you should write about what interpretation is,’ said a musician friend of mine, an orchestral player, ‘because lots of people wonder. I wonder myself,’ he added.

‘But you do it all day long!’ I said. ‘You spend your life carrying out different conductors' interpretations! You know more about it than most musicians.’ ‘No, I don't,’ he said. ‘Different conductors just come along and stand in front of us and say “Louder here”, or “Make it drier”, or “More from the brass”. Or even, “Just listen to one another! This should feel like chamber music.” Sometimes conductors don't say much at all, just indicate faster and slower, or louder and softer. The next one comes along, says something different, and we all rub out the old pencil markings and put new ones in. Is that interpretation?’

This kind of sentiment has been expressed in my hearing by lots of orchestral musicians, though of course I must offset it at once by paying tribute to the small number of truly inspiring conductors whose effect on even jaded orchestras can be electrifying. It's always striking to hear orchestral players recalling the moment when a wonderful conductor stood in front of them; all of a sudden they remembered what it was that had drawn them into music in the first place, and found themselves falling in love again with the very works they thought had lost their savour.