Isla Ratcliff is currently crowdfunding to make her second album, The Scottish Four Seasons, a Scottish trad arrangement of Vivaldi’s famous work. Isla has taken Vivaldi’s famous melodies and made them sound Scottish – by changing the chords, the time signatures, the instrumental textures, and in some cases writing completely new melodies over Vivaldi’s original chord progressions. With 2025 being the 300th anniversary of the original publication of The Four Seasons, Isla’s album will highlight the dance-like nature of Vivaldi’s music and reflect on how Scotland’s seasons have changed in the past 300 years. Featuring Isla on fiddle, accompanied by a fantastic ensemble of string players and pianist, Isla’s album will cross the genre boundaries of classical and folk music and highlight important environmental concerns.
Isla is very grateful to have received some funding from Creative Scotland, which covers roughly half the costs of making this album. To cover the other half, she is running this crowdfunding campaign. She would hugely appreciate any donations and/or sharing her crowdfunding campaign with your friends and family. Thank you very much!