When I heard the shocking news of David's death, I thought of favourite pieces of writing, the pick of which would be his Preface to the paperback edition of the first two books of Stravinsky's Conversations with Robert Craft. Plucking this cherished volume from the shelves and glancing at David's text, I was struck by the following line: ‘The true craftsman must at some point be a fanatic (and the fanatic who is a bad craftsman is an impostor or a lunatic)’. David may have been writing about Stravinsky, the ‘great Poet’ of the fable which tops and tails his Preface, but he could no less aptly have been referring to himself. To describe David's fanaticism and craftsmanship as complementary, or reciprocal, is hardly adequate: their relationship was symbiotic. Each spurred on the other and the coupling was extraordinarily fertile.