Schola Hungarica / Dobszay, Laszlo / Szendrei, Janka - Ambrosian Chants For Epiphany (CD)

The patriarchal city of Milan traces its liturgy and liturgical music back to the great doctor of the church, Saint Ambrose. The Ambrosian liturgy named after him is a sister to the Roman, with many common but many differing traits. The material on this disc presents music for the mass and vespers for Epiphany.Compared to Gregorian, Ambrosian music is much richer in embellishment and melisma. Frequently, pausing on one syllable, long melodies without clearly articulated texts are interpolated. True enough, in the simple genres such as the office antiphon, Ambrosian is even simpler than Gregorian. On special but attractive feature of Ambrosian chant is the use of tonalities, and the exposure of one or two unusual intervals, especially the tritone (F-B, for instance).The ordinary parts of the mass are taken from a Christmas composition by a Milan cathedral choirmaster of the early Renaissance, Franchino Gafurio (1451-1522). He was a renowned music theorist in his time, and his works, tho