[Thor Joachim Haga]

I’m first in line to admit a Williams fandom out of the ordinary. I think he’s the best composer who ever lived. But I’d probably tone that down just a little bit in a book. Definitely something that needs to be said in an introduction, at least to a moderate extent, as he IS a major figure of 20th and 21st century orchestral music, but then I’d probably leave it be after that. Hyperbole always makes me squirm in my seat, no matter how big a fan I am of somebody. Might have something to do with the European, or especially Scandinavian sentiment (what we call “Janteloven” over here, which is ingrained in our very being). Here’s an interview with actor Alexander Skarsgård that really explains a lot about the culture difference between the US and Scandinavians on this issue: