Piece Descriptions

1. Foggy Full Moon
I was at Christopher's vacation house on the foggy coast in 2021 June and he insisted that I play something, but I had nothing ready. So I improvised this new melody. Recorded February 19, 2022 at Megasonic studio (Jeremy Goody), then released on Youtube March 12, 2022 as first (at 1:10 mark) of several artists of the Piano Composers recital (Contra Costa Performing Arts Society presents ... Piano Composers Chapter).
https://youtu.be/RMwr6tFR2Vo

2. Reverie
Begins with the "Little Red" theme of 2015 that my brother Paul used in a family video, but then instead of the “Wolf” section this 2024 version explores different chords. Performed Dec 6, 2024 at the Piano Composers winter concert. Video (Dave Erskine - Reverie, Composers Concert Grace Presbyterian Church Dec 9, 2024) on Youtube by Robert Thomas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Q4p-WlQwA

3. Golden Little Flower
The first plaintive section is about loss and was composed in 2010. At that time I envisioned a change of chords and moods to a resolution section, but I had writer's block. So I put it away for many years, until Februrary 2020 when I figured out how to break through my blockage, with the quiet "dark night" interlude followed by a dawn of the next section. Its hopeful tone is a counterweight to the sadness of year 2020. I finished in October 2020.
    Recorded Nov. 8, 2020 on a Yamaha C3 by Jeremy Goody and videographer Bill Rudiak at MegaSonic Sound in Oakland, it was our first online Youtube recital, for six composers Nov. 24, 2020 sponsored by CCPAS, and organized by Christopher Johnson. Dave is 2nd performer at 9:45 in the full recital (Contra Costa Performing Arts Society - Piano Composers Concert) at
https://youtu.be/ulRAdUv3o4c

4. March Rain
Composed began May 2012 and finished January 2019, based on an idea improvised March 2011. First performed for the Piano Composers CCPAS recital, June 15, 2012, Grace Presbyterian Church, Walnut Creek, CA, and then again in more mature form Februrary 15, 2019, which is the version recorded here.

5. The Spaceman
This is a newer version of the 2011 Alien theme from CD Musings. Recorded June 10, 2023 at Piano Composers recital at Grace Presbyterian Church in Walnut Creek, Calif.

6. Buonasera
Composition inspired in 2017 by accidentally playing the 7-note two hand parallel motiv while working on another piece. I was entranced. Title suggested by other Composers Group's members. Promenading at sunset through the village? Recorded June 9, 2017 at Piano Composers recital at Grace Presbyterian Church in Walnut Creek.

7. Our Blue Dot Too
The title refers to a piece about the Earth that I was working on many years ago. More ideas came in 2018, and then this version was recorded at Megasonic studio March 5, 2023 for the YouTube concert April 3, 2023 (Contra Costa Performing Arts Society - Spring Concert by the Piano Composers Chapter). I am the 3rd performer at 8:57 mark.
https://youtu.be/iBErd7qRYoY.

8. In the Dark
Composed July 2021. For the previous 9 months I hadn't been able to compose anything— I would go to the keyboard and nothing would come out! (I guess the sadness of the times and work stresses). Fellow composer Christopher Johnson helped shake me out of my funk by forcing me to improvise at his keyboard when I visited him at Sea Ranch in June (which resulted in Foggy Full Moon). Then a couple weeks later in July this new melody popped into my head when I was watching TV and I quickly went to the piano to preserve it. I ended up playing for a long time-- so long that the lights on the automatic timer clicked out. Sheryl came into the livingroom and said "Did you know that you are playing in the dark?"— gosh, how did she already know the title of the piece?
This piece is a romp-- exuberance alternating with more measured lyrical passages. In places it's on the edge of what my fingers can do (but good to always challenge oneself). Recorded October 8, 2021 at Piano Composers recital at Grace Presbyterian Church in Walnut Creek. (Digital recorder was placed casually placed on carpet near edge of piano, underneath.)

9. Nocturne for Judy
Composed November 2021 for my brother Tim's wife Holly's mother who was passing away. Recorded September 30, 2022 at Piano Composers recital at Grace Presbyterian Church in Walnut Creek.

10. Riff on Pachelbel
Impromptu from 2011 based on an older idea from 2008. I revamped it for this November 30, 2019 version, recorded at Piano Composers CCPAS recital St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Walnut Creek, Calif.

11. Door County Serenade 2019
Named after a lovely area of Wisconsin where my brother was married, since I considered playing it as a processional-- but ended up playing something else. In July 2006 this idea popped out when I started playing an older piece sufficiently slowly. In December 6, 2019 I recorded this version with a slower tempo at the Piano Composers winter recital at St. Paul's.

12. Winter
Introspective and brooding, it was composed just a few days before the Piano Composers winter recital recorded December 9, 2016 at St. Paul’s.