I write the songs

Barry Manilow has a series on Radio 2 at the moment profiling the people who wrote the Great American Songbook.

I listened to an episode on Leonard Bernstein on the IPlayer in the garden last night. It was great to hear the enthusiasm of a practitioner and a fan for change instead of the condescension of a critic. Is there any more absurd a profession than that of criticism?

I wonder if Barry could explain the great Diabolus in Musica controversy? (see Icons Passim.) Listening to him discourse on Bernstein's expert use of dissonance, I think he probably could.

It's disappointing that I missed the earlier episodes and that there isn't a series catch up option.