Sondheim always struck me as an artist of limited musical ability who stood out mostly in contrast to the other mediocrities like Lloyd Weber writing for the musical theater. It wasn't particularly fair to him to start as lyricist to an authentic musical genius like Bernstein, who could go home after a day of rehearsals and come back in the morning with anther haunting or electric melody. It's telling that few if any Sondheim songs have made it into the "standards", covered by jazz musicians or popular singers. Had he teamed with a great composer, one who could match his lyric writing skills, he could have left a catalogue of great work. His insistence on doing both, lyrics and music, left a legacy of songs that need great singers and lush orchestral production values to entertain while a high school production of West Side Story can still produce goose bumps.