GREGORIANISCHE CHORAELE -PLAIN SONGS

Plainchants About Gregorian Hymn - Gregorian Chant According to legendary tradition, it was Pope Gregory the Great (+604), that systemized, standardized and made the liturgical songs of the Catholic Church "Catholic", i.e., universally valid.

In its widest sense, the Catholic Church consists of all baptised believers. In the Middle Ages, the period of origin of Gregorian canto, the responsibility of unwavering thanks to God, however, was allocated to a select few believers specifically trained for this: monks and nuns. Their thanks to God had two fundamental forms of expression.

The daily eight hourly prayers (officium) and the celebration of the Eucharistic Mass. The Gregorian chant, the music of the Middle Age Catholic Church, is therefore, exclusively a manner of prayer and thanks to God. The recording at issue presents a selection of melodies from the Mass liturgy - from different periods of the church year - and the monks officium.

The chant compositions that are bound by the Editio Vaticana of the Catholic liturgy are compared with a few melodies in the dalmatical dialect chant which deviates from this. Recorded at Oleviste Church (XIIIth century), Tallinn (Estonia) HORTUS MUSICUS, the "Music Garden", was founded in 1972 by Andres Mustonen with his first concert in Tallinn, Estonia. On this recording: three singers (Jaan Arder, Riho Ridbeck and Joosep Vahermägi) directed by Andres Mustonen.