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Two very different great musicians b otd: Billie Holiday (1915): No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music, or it isn't music. Ravi Shankar (1920): The magic happens only when the artist serves with love and the listener receives with the same spirit.

A very happy 70th to Barbara Kingsolver! Such emotionally powerful, deeply perceptive writing - and wise: "Memory is a complicated thing - a relative to truth, but not its twin." "The truth needs so little rehearsal." “We are our injuries, as much as we are our successes.”

Tom Lehrer is 97 today! Wonderful... If a person feels he can't communicate, the least he can do is shut up about it. Be careful not to do your good deeds when there's no one watching you. In my youth there were words you couldn't say in front of a girl; now you can't say 'girl'.

Norbert Brainin, leader of the Amadeus quartet, d otd 20 years ago. What a character - and what a musician! Unique, irreplaceable. The quartet changed everything: their recordings of the standard repertoire sold millions, setting a new standard, and influencing all who followed.

Confucius d otd 0479! Timeless wisdom: “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” “He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.” “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” “Study the past if you would define the future.”

Such a hideous day today in Prussia Cove. How are we supposed to be musically inspired when confronted with such ugliness?

Thoughts on singing from the great Monserrat Caballe (b otd 1933): "When a singer truly feels and experiences what the music is all about, the words will automatically ring true." "A soprano's voice is a little like a mother's cry, which is why it attracts all human beings."

Day to celebrate Irish genius! Samuel Beckett (b otd 1906): "We are all born mad. Some remain so." "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." Seamus Heaney (b otd 1939): “Walk on air against your better judgement.” “The end of art is peace.”

Colin Davis d otd 2013 - already 12 years! Hard to believe. A warm, natural musician, uninterested in any sort of musical trends - he just made music in his own heartfelt way. And it spoke...Also a charming man - great company, especially after the first glass of red wine...!

Leonardo da Vinci b otd 1452! “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.” “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” "The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions." “I awoke only to find that the rest of the world was still asleep.”

Three comic geniuses, all b otd, on laughing/smiling: Charlie Chaplin (1889): A day without laughter is a day wasted. Spike Milligan (1918): Smiling is infectious.A single smile could travel round the earth. Peter Ustinov (1921): Laughter...the most civilised music in the world.

The great Artur Schnabel (b otd 1882): "I don't handle the notes differently from other pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, there is where the artistry lies!" "I am the only person here who is enjoying this, and I get the money; they pay and have to suffer." Haha.

A very happy 75th birthday to the extraordinary pianist and musician Grigory Sokolov! A phenomenon - magical control of his instrument, combined with complete personal/musical integrity. He stands apart - immersed only in his art, uninterested in 'career'. A true, sincere artist.

Dudley Moore would have been 90 today! Wonderful comedian/actor/musician. And yet - troubled...By the time I knew him, he seemed to care most about piano-playing, apparently regretting not having pursued a career as a classical pianist. But his other talents produced so much joy!

Happy birthday to John Eliot Gardiner. Controversial at times - but he's given us SO much great music! “Monteverdi gives us the full gamut of human passions...Mozart shows the music we might hope to hear in heaven. But it is Bach...who gives us the voice of God - in human form.”

Wisdom from Charlotte Bronte, b otd 1816: “Conventionality is not morality.” “It is not violence that best overcomes hate -- nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury.” “Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves.”

Two musical icons b otd: Kathleen Ferrier (1912) - poignant words: "I count my blessings very often when I think of the luck I have had in a short career." Yehudi Menuhin (1916) - on music: "I can only think of music as something inherent in every human being - a birthright."

Hmmm...it was a rather hairy Easter weekend, all in all...haha...

Serge Prokofiev b otd 1891! Unique: soaring melodies, creative fire, sparkling wit, inexhaustible originality. "My chief virtue (or if you like, defect) has been a tireless lifelong search for an original, individual musical idiom. I detest imitation, I detest hackneyed devices."

Serge Prokofiev (b otd 1891) was quite a self-publicist; but I'm not sure that being born on the same date as Shakespeare, and then dying on the same day as Stalin, was good PR! I briefly met his widow Lina once; and then, years later, was asked to play at her funeral...