The Goeyvaerts String Trio was founded in 1997 and focuses exclusively on 20th and 21st century repertoire. On this CD the group performs pieces by contemporary composers Arvo Pärt and Ivan Moody. Both works featured here, Pärt’s Stabat Mater and Moody’s Simeron, are musical evocations of religious icons.

Arvo Pärt and Ivan Moody have both turned to Orthodox Christianity at some point in their lives and this has permeated the work of both of them in a particular way. Pärt’s relationship with the religious icon is well-known, however Moody’s piece Simeron also makes reference to an icon which, as with Pärt’s Stabat Mater, is meant to represent the transcendent truth.

Although equal temperament is the most commonly known and used, for Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater the Goeyvaerts String Trio employs “Pure (Just) Intonation”, an early form of tuning where intervals are distributed unevenly but ‘purely’ across the octave. This lends the work a serene but deeply melancholy feel, while the composer creates tension by alternating simple triads with dissonances.

Ivan Moody was born in London in 1964, and studied composition with Brian Dennis at London University, with William Brooks at York University and privately with John Tavener. He also studied Orthodox theology at the University of Joensuu, Finland. Moody's compositions show the influences of Eastern liturgical chant and the Orthodox Church, of which he is a member and priest (of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople). His 'Canticum Canticorum I', which was written for the Hilliard Ensemble and premiered in 1987, achieved enormous success and remains his most frequently-performed work.

Since 1987, when the The Goeyvaerts String Trio was formed, it has collaborated with several major contemporary composers, including Giya Kancheli and Peter Swinnen. It has already released two recordings for Challenge Classics, a disc devoted to music of the Second Viennese School (CC72375), and ‘String Trios from the East’, which featured music by Gubaidalina, Kanchelli, Knaifel and Paiberdin (CC72503).

Goeyvaerts String Trio: Kristien Roels (violin), Kris Matthynssens (viola), Pieter Stas (cello)