Are high profile conductors really as valuable to orchestras as their pay rates suggest? Should rank-and-file players take more credit for successful performances? Should orchestras expect more loyalty from their air-mile-accumulating musical directors? Or are they simply  products of our celebrity-obsessed culture, recognisable faces to sell concert tickets and CDs? Tell us your thoughts.

I expect they probably are! And in our celebrity-obsessed times, it seems that 'personality' can sometimes obscure what is most important: the music. A conductor is a co-ordinator, in many ways, one who brings all the elements together, yet the members of the orchestra work day in day out to transmit the score to the audience with modesty, fidelity and commitment. I don't doubt that there are some fine conductors out there, justifiably hailed for their work, but let's not forget the jobbing musicians who, together, make Beethoven's 9th whole. And the celebrity conductors should pay their respects to the orchestras who have helped to elevate them.

Yes, and no, and no and yes. The problem here is the proposition of value implied by the question, I think--as it might be better to ask first whether the role of the conductor is crucial or not to good collective music-making (and I think, by and large it is), and then ask whether we should be considering that value in monetary terms alone. As a cursory glance at the role of the merchant banks in the current global financial crisis suggests, we are wont to confuse level of salary with worth--the 'Masters of the Universe' (as the top bankers like to call themselves) really do believe that, I imagine, because of the, well, obscene salaries they are paid.

In the case of orchestras, Norman Lebrecht's book, 'Maestro Myth' makes a pretty damning case (one I have not heard refuted), that the super-sizing of conductor's salaries, and the 'star' system that supports it, has gutted the classical music world of money, to the detriment of us all (unless you are a conductor or an agent...).

I take your point Peter about the disparity between musical worth and remuneration, or rather the fact that the two concepts are not comparable. Even so, it is interesting to speculate about how the orchestral scene would be different if conductors had more power, or administrative power commensurate with their pay. Imagine if big name conductors refused to perform in the UK unless they were guaranteed the rehearsal time they get for comparable concerts in Germany. In fact, why don't they?