Edinburgh fiddle player Isla Ratcliff has taken it upon herself to re-interpret Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in its entirety. Marking the 300th anniversary of the foundational work’s original publication, this accomplished trad musician has gone to great lengths to repurpose the violin concertos in order to reflect the contemporary Scottish landscape. ‘A few years ago I was listening to it in the car. I vividly remember it; we were driving through Glen Clova, me and my parents, and I was like, “this is just great dance music,”’ says Ratcliff of the inspiration behind rejigging the iconic work. ‘And then I thought, “what would it sound like if it was made into fiddle music with a Scottish trad twist?’” The Scottish Four Seasons is Ratcliff’s sophomore project following her 2021 debut, The Castalia. It’s been a busy few years for the classically trained player, who has toured extensively and reached the semi-finals of the prestigious BBC Young Traditional Musician Of The Year competition. 

Though there is an obvious reference point for The Scottish Four Seasons, reworking the album was more laborious than you might think. Elemental aspects of the original composition, such as time signatures, harmonies and instrumental textures, were adjusted by Ratcliff, who swapped the harpsichord for a piano before writing her own melodies over the original chords.

‘The season I found the hardest to “tradify” was autumn,’ she laughs. ‘But having had that creative challenge, actually those are four of my favourite tracks on the album because it pushed me to do something really quite different.’ Also included in Vivaldi’s 1725 work was a poem to accompany each piece, a feat Ratcliff has replicated in her take on Scotland’s climate in 2025. ‘Three hundred years later, this album is about the Scottish four seasons, so there’s one track in each season that’s got a climate change message to it. Each track is accompanied by a poem and the poem gives some more insight into that environmental message.’

An ambitious endeavour, the album came together thanks to a crowdfunding effort that saw the Scottish trad community chip in to finance its recording. ‘The community of art and music supporters in Scotland is really, really lovely,’ reflects Ratcliff, who was recently nominated for Musician Of The Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards. As further testament to the strength of that community, a host of esteemed artists joined her for the recording of the album, including Kristan Harvey of Blazin’ Fiddles and Breabach’s Megan Henderson.

‘I’m not going to lie, it was quite daunting at first because they’re such big names,’ Ratcliff admits, ‘But they’re such lovely people, so we had a lovely time working together.’ Of course, it wouldn’t be a Scottish album without some colloquial humour, with one track titled ‘To A Midge’ while ‘Four Seasons In One Day’ is the name of a bonus piece. ‘The midge track is one of my favourites,’ Ratcliff beams. ‘They’re just such a big part of Scotland’s seasons, so they had to be in there.’

The Scottish Four Seasons is available digitally on Friday 12 December and will be performed at Barony Hall, Glasgow, as part of Celtic Connections, Friday 23 January; Isla Ratcliff & Evie Waddell play Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Monday 8 December; Isla Ratcliff & Natalie Haas play Stockbridge Music Hub, Edinburgh, Saturday 24 January; main picture: Elly Lucas.