Confront unpleasantness, as conductors do? (4,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
face the music
'confront' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for face the music that I've seen before include "Prepare to accept the consequences" , "Accept criticism" , "Brave a hostile situation" , "Take responsibility" , "Pianist will usually" .)