Timelapse creates a space where sounds of the past and present collide to form a unique musical landscape. Although the pieces were written, in some cases, centuries apart and in culturally disparate eras, it is striking how much these contrasting works inhabit such similar emotional territory. Intriguing pairings of works by Rameau and Radiohead, Schubert and The Smiths, Adés and Grieg, Satie and Reich, compliment each other beautifully in the context of Timelapse. This recording by Orchestra of the Swan provides a place where notions of time and style have become irrelevant.

Stefan Plewniak writes of his new release with the Cappella dell’Ospedale della Pieta: “It is like rock and roll for a violinist to discover his music. So many different patterns within a definite form. So much passion in Vivaldi to push our instrument to its limits, as far as he could. For me, this music expresses the joy, sun, excitement, vitality, passion, and all the feelings and experiences you encounter in Venice, including the light, different smells, colors of the sky and buildings, the sounds of the crowd, the special energy of the people. Vivaldi’s music is strongly connected to the Carnival. Even if mainly operas were written for that period, the music business was strongly focused on this, the most festive time of the year. I feel that instrumental music was no less affected by this Carnival energy than opera.”

THE TWIOLINS are the siblings Marie-Luise and Christoph Dingler, specialists in the violin duo genre. Having grown up in a musical environment, they have achieved the highest degree of interplay and a unique sound identity through their shared curriculum vitae and constant playing together. Why Vivaldi and Piazzolla? Or to put it another way: why, after more than ten years of searching and working on new compositions, does the duo now devote itself to two deceased composers who could hardly be more opposite? Adapting Kremer's project Eight Seasons and transforming it into a typical "Twiolins project" is unusual for the TWIOLINS, but it was almost dream walkingly simple. Thus it was clear to the duo that the Eight Seasons had to evolve, through their own interpretation, transformation and growth. In short: an evolution was necessary. Nevertheless, it was an adventure to play the Four Seasons from Vivaldi on two violins arrange. Years of playing together gave them enough experience to be able to present Vivaldi's masterpiece appropriately - without reducing the content of the work. Both Vivaldi and Piazzolla have undergone a transformation and show us new aspects in this chamber music version that have never been heard before in these great works of world literature ...

A veritable tour de force: the arrangement of Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons and Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata for violin solo! Violinist and arranger Mauro Tortorelli about this unique project: “This recording is not only a challenge in terms of performance (playing both the solo part and the orchestral part at the same time), but also in terms of arrangement. Having to simulate all the orchestral timbres, the various voices in counterpoint, the sound contrasts on only four strings of the violin was not at all easy. Paganini's ingenious technique of double trills and left-handed pizzicati (used for the second movement of L’Inverno and the second movement of L’Estate), Bartok's pizzicato (for the rifle shots in the last movement of L’Autunno) and the formidable bow technique used by Henryk Szeryng, handed down to me by his pupil Georg Monch, have certainly suggested the best instrumental solutions to obtain the clearest possible clarity of execution between the various voices of a complex piece, enabling me to overcome the obstacles that the original scores presented me with. The decision to transcribe for solo violin these two famous works was also inspired by their great melodic power. In fact, every time I studied both pieces to perform them in public in the original formation, I had the feeling that they were already functional without accompaniment. As I am not a "Baroque" violinist, I preferred to perform the pieces with current technique and interpretation, respecting as much as possible the score revised by Gian Francesco Malipiero for Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and the manuscript score of Giuseppe Tartini's "Devil's Trill", adding my own Cadenza. “ Mauro Tortorelli already successfully recorded for Brilliant Classics violin sonatas by Saint-Saëns, Scalero, Milhaud, Ševcik/Auer and Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Austrian Baroque music takes center stage in the repertoire of this unusual Baroque ensemble. The ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria is dedicated to musicological research of Austrian Baroque composers. The abundance of rediscovered works led to several successful premiere recordings, including albums featuring the works of R. Weichlen, H.I.F. Biber, G. Arnold, F. J. Aumann, and more. In the words of conductor Gunar Letzbor: “It is almost impossible nowadays to perform Vivaldi’s music without any preconceptions, even if one engages with it only rarely. Vivaldi’s sound is ubiquitous… There is so much to discover amongst his works, away from mainstream sounds. This recording and its preparation: practicing in peace and quiet, trying out sounds, receiving and discarding ideas, taking in the texts, rediscovering melodies, and if possible, never listening to any Vivaldi recordings.”

Following the huge success of their recent album release 'Timelapse' (Jan 2021), Orchestra of the Swan presents Vivaldi Sleep, a project that was initiated by the orchestra during the first national lockdown of 2020. Eleven artists from a broad range of genres - including klezmer, folk, electronica and jazz - were invited to add a solo part in response to the orchestra's recording of the second movement of Autumn from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Guest artists recorded their solo parts at home and were given free rein to start prior to the orchestra's recording and continue after it had finished if they wished. Manipulation of the source material was also allowed. Formed in 1995, Orchestra of the Swan is a British chamber orchestra which, under the artistic direction of David Le Page, is passionate about audience inclusivity and blurring the lines between genres through it's adventurous and accessible programming. This album demonstrates this ethos exactly.

Christmas celebrations are thought to go all the way back to the formidable feasting of the Vikings at midwinter, when in true Nordic fashion yuletide was ‘toasted in’. The celebration of the birth in Bethlehem is more subdued and spiritual, but it is of a far more recent date. We do not know if the Vikings celebrated yuletide with music, but music at Christmas has been a popular tradition since the Middle Ages. Today, practically all peoples around the world celebrate midwinter with special religious and cultural rituals; the precise times vary, but gifts, decorations, festivities, candles, bells and special Christmas music are apparently always part of this. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Christmas was the busiest time of the year for church composers. The congregation expected to hear new Christmas music in church which often involved instruments, choirs and soloists. Here you'll hear the Concerto Grosso - starting with A. Corellis version becoming template for the composers G.Torelli, A.Vivaldi, F. Manfredini and P. Locatelli following the trend of music concertos for Christmas Celebrations.