{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.01696113074204947, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.974683544303797, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch: Liturgical Chants of Lent and Good Friday

Although the recordings are limited to liturgical chants of Lent and Good Friday, this CD gives an impression of the ecclesiastic music of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch in general, for it contains many of the genres that form an integral part of the daily Divine Offices. The music is vocal, predominantly antiphonal singing, and is well performed by a mixed choir ofprofessional and nonprofessional members. The singing reveals a great musical diversity, ranging from recitative to beautiful melismatic solo singing. The notes offer much information about the Syrian Orthodox Church in general but give little information about the music itself. One would wish to find more explanations about the musical structure of the different genres and the modes employed. The recitation of psalms goes with interpolated hymns, though this practice is not mentioned in the notes. As only a part of the chants is translated, the translation of texts other than those of the PSallTIS and the gospel would have been more useful. However, this production is a worthy documentation; both notes and recordings (which form an integral unit by following one after the other without any pause) give the listener a glimpse of what a Sunday mass displays, as Touma wrote in his annotations: "a liturgical drama within a continuous musical form."