Album of the Week – Isla Ratcliff ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’

Fiddle player, singer and composer, ISLA RATCLIFF’s second album, ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’, is a Scottish trad reinterpretation of Italian composer, Vivaldi’s famous work.

Released in 2025 to mark the 300th anniversary of the work’s original publication, Isla’s album highlights the dance-like nature of Vivaldi’s music and reflects on how Scotland’s seasons and climate have changed in the past 300 years.

Featuring Isla on fiddle, accompanied by string ensemble and piano, the album crosses the genre boundaries of classical and folk music, and highlights important environmental concerns. Isla has taken Vivaldi’s famous melodies and made them sound Scottish.

Each track tells a story – from the plants waking up and the lambs playing in spring to the frenzy of midges; the increasing heatwaves that we are experiencing in summer, to the joyful playing with fallen leaves and the stags’ rut in autumn, and lastly to Hogmanay ceilidhs and the diminishing snowfall that we are experiencing in winter.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’ without a bonus track at the end. “Four Seasons in One Day” is a playful nod to how many people in Scotland affectionately refer to the vagaries of the Scottish climate.

Isla has also written poems to accompany each track, many of which are influenced by Scottish writers including Lady Nairne, Lady John Scott, Robert Burns, Nan Shepherd and Iain Crichton Smith.

Isla will be with Hugh Taylor to talk about it all on the Album of the Week Show which airs at 5 pm today – not its usual midday slot.

• ALBUM OF THE WEEK SHOW – Isla Ratcliff in conversation with Hugh Taylor – at 5 pm – Saturday, March 14, 2026.