What I found interesting about this TED Talk is that Itay Talgam does not express his own opinion on the "best" way to conduct. He simply shows us that there are several different styles used by several different world famous conductors, and that all of them achieve an end result of beautiful music. I enjoyed Talgam's light-hearted display and I enjoyed having the opportunity to choose my own "favourite" from his list of maestros.
Talgam uses the word "control" a lot and it takes on different meanings. How much control does the maestro have? What kind of control is it? Is he controlling time? Style? Sound? Everything? Nothing? Some conductors wish to control everything and everyone in their orchestra in order to achieve the interpretation of either himself or the composer. Others "compliment" the musicians by stepping back and letting a soloist or a section lead the orchestra with their own informed interpretation.
Of Talgam's demonstrations, my personal favourites were Carlos Kleiber and Leonard Bernstein. Both conductors expressed the intention of the music with their arms, their faces, and their entire bodies. You could see and hear this energy in each performer. This was a great example of what Talgam said near the beginning of his presentation: "The joy is about enabling other peoples' stories to be heard at the same time". This type of conductor, while having authority over his ensemble, is merely enabling his musicians to be musicians.
