Stephen Sondheim: A Life by Meryle Secrest (Bloomsbury, £8.99 in UK)

No Busby Berkeley-style rags-to-riches story here. Sondheim was the child of a wealthy couple and his talent was nurtured from an early age by Oscar Hammerstein (with whose son he went to school). By the age of 27, he had written the lyrics for West Side Story, and though none of his subsequent solo shows achieved the commercial success of this collaboration with Leonard Bernstein (most of them, in fact, flopped disastrously on their first runs) he has come to be regarded as synonomous with the artistically-aspiring modern musical. His work is stronger on linguistic poise than melodic invention - a reflection, perhaps, of the diffident, finicky personality that emerges from this fastidiously detailed biography. By the end of it, you feel you've learned a lot but still know very little about a composer whose work invites admiration rather than affection.