A collaboration of Arvid Tomayko-Peters and vocalist Christie Lee Gibson. 2008
Requiem Aeternam is a composition for improvising musicians created for the Cryptic Providence festival and performed in the North Burial Ground in Providence, RI. Requiem Aeternam draws its inspirations from classical requiem masses and from the gravestones at the North Burial Ground. A number of ghostly characters emerge, long dead souls who might lurk in among the gravestones at night.
This recording is an abbreviated (about 1/2 its original length) performance of Requiem Aeternam at the Pixilerations festival in downtown Providence in October of 2008. While the two previous performances took place among the actual gravestones, this stage performance includes visual images from the graveyard projected behind the performers that react subtly to the performance.
The Video and Audio Versions below are the same performance. Choose whichever option you like.
Requiem Aeternam Uninterrupted - 14:43
Requiem Aeternam - 2:36
The Empty Ghost - 3:06
The Poltergeist - The Stately Ghost - 1:57
The Mournful Ghost - The Drowned Ghost - 2:42
Gravestones - 2:07 | Gravestone texts are from the North Burial Ground, Providence, RI
Requiem Aeternam - 2:15
A non-tonal piece for piano about the thrill and nervous energy of meeting someone very special. Score [PDF]
Eggplant Recording - 4:30 | recording of Eggplant performed by pianist Rosaleen Rhee | Jan, 2008
Eggplant Computer Rendering - 2:56 | sampler rendering of Eggplant
An algorithmic speech piece created from text snippet's of Robert Coover's novel Gerald's Party chosen by Alvin Lucier using random methods.
This piece consists of a quadraphonic MaxMSP patch which is randomized so that each performance differs significantly, but follows the same ebb and flow and draws from the same content. Randomly chosen sentence fragments are incrementally decomposed into smaller and smaller sound grains by halving, and grains are randomly ordered at playback. The smaller the grains, the more chance there is that they will be placed to the rear speakers. Once a certain size threshold is met, grains will sometimes come from a second sentence fragment. Then the process reverses and the second sentence fragment is incrementally reconstructed, appearing to be assembled from the grains of the first. This text is again disassembled into the next. This process continues for a predetermined number of texts, then, when the last text is fully decomposed, an algorithm guesses grain numbers blindly until every last grain has been played back - which, in theory, could take forever.
The entire performative action on stage consists of the depression of the computer's spacebar by the performer - the piece then completes itself. This recording is the stereo mix of a performance at Brown University's Grant Recital Hall. Composed, spoken and performed by Arvid Tomayko-Peters.
A Pitcher of Old Fashioneds - 12:22 | 2006
Truro - 3:13 | A piece about the sand dunes and gnarled pine forests of Truro, Massachusetts. Sand grains might blow anywhere in the wind, but go far enough in any one direction and the intricate landscape fades into the emptiness of the ocean. Featured in Pixilerations [v.5], Oct 2008. | 2008
Inevitably, Another Plastic Hotdog - 4:25 | Thanks to Noah Chevalier on guitar. Featured in Pixilerations [v.4] Fall 2007. | 2007
A visual music piece inspired by the chemical weathering of rock, estuarine oceanography, atmospheric chemistry and radiometric dating.