Dr. David Alan April

I only just now got notified by a friend of David's passing away. We knew each other from the now defunct PianoSociety site where he was an ardent advocate of late romantic piano repertoire, and a regular provider of recordings thereof. Though I always bitched about his noisy page turns (which he acknowledged with good humor), his interpretations were invariably integer, original, and interesting. Among the many good people there, David stood out for his kind spirit and positive attitude as much as for his pianistic skills and great repertoire knowledge. He always had a kind word for everybody, and was invariably positive, constructive and encouraging in his feedback on recordings by others. A great guy, and even though we'd been out of touch since days of PianoSociety, it's sad hear he is no more. Rest in peace, David.

I came to know David through the world of online piano forums, where he was a devoted and educated champion of, especially, Russian romanticism, and he made a considerable contribution to the body of available recordings of some rather rare piano literature. His knowledge and encouragement towards his peers will be missed.

Very sorry to learn this sad news. 

I met David online, must have been around 2004, on the Pianostreet forum and we exchanged emails, scores and recordings on and off for several years. Although very highly trained in classical piano he had a deep and diverse appreciation of all forms of music and anything he said was worth serious consideration. Our earlier professional backgrounds also had considerable overlap so there was always much to discuss. As others have said, he was very caring. Whenever there was news of a spot of bother in New Zealand he used to ask if we were all right. Underneath the immense experience and analytical grasp, however, lurked a true romantic idealist, in his art and outside it, and I shall miss him very much for that.

I am sorry to hear of David's passing. I corresponded with him many times online where we discussed his recordings which piqued my interest a great deal since he was playing music and composers I had never heard before. He was a very kind hearted person who provided a lot of encouragement and kind words to me. We both shared an interest for travel and he did tell me much about his wonderful journeys (eg: Monhegan Island). May he rest in peace and I hope peace is upon his family and friends.