The music is already written down the orchestra play what’s written, so what difference does the conductor make apart from the tempo?
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Pick a recognizable orchestral piece, preferably one you’re already familiar with. Something like the opening of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Reqiuem, or Rossini’s William Tell Overture. Then, listen to a few different recordings of the same piece but by different orchestras (or even the same orchestra with different conductors). Now, you have to sort of mentally account for differences in the recording quality and the acoustics of the recording spaces – but the other differences in the recordings are largely because of the conductor. Variations in tempo, style, articulations, balance between parts, transitions, etc, are all decisions that the conductor makes.
Also remember that in a 4 piece band, an individual player can generally alter their part at will and play it a little differently without much consequence – but in an orchestra you have many players doing exactly the same thing and they have to all do it extactly the same way. Someone has to be the final authority on what that way is. The conductor is the band leader, mix engineer, and producer for the whole effort.
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