In an article previewing the coming centennial year of the composer-conductor, Los Angeles Times classical critic Mark Swed devotes a few paragraphs to Tom Cothran, who was a high school friend: “I don’t know how Bernstein ultimately felt about Tom. He was a verboten subject. Nor could I ever get Tom to talk much about the personal side of Bernstein. He felt it was his job to keep Bernstein from being too neurotic, but he may well have made him more so in the process. Still, as Bernstein’s inner monster grew, so, too, did his giving side. Shamans can be like that.”