As the repertoire available to a 12-piece string ensemble is hardly exhaustive, such groups tend to appropriate works intended for either far larger or smaller forces. The Scottish Ensemble does both on its current tour, playing a scaled-up version of Ravel's Quartet alongside a reduced one of Elgar's Introduction and Allegro.

The BBCSSO strings had played the Elgar in the same venue two days earlier, not perhaps the greatest example of pan-organisational planning, but a good opportunity for comparison. While Elgar's Serenade, also included in the programme, is ideal string-group territory, the densely scored Introduction and Allegro is usually associated with a body of strings several times larger.

Even bulked up to 17 players, the Scottish Ensemble could provide only a fraction of the weight. So instead, it offered a rather different take on the piece: lithe and energetic rather than stodgily splendid. The textural contrast of quartet against orchestra was rather diminished with a small body of players, but, set against that, the exposed high-string writing came across cleanly in a way it seldom does when attempted by greater forces.

I've never been entirely convinced by Rudolf Barshai's version of Ravel's Quartet. Bulking out the parts and adding double bass seems to detract from its brilliantly original sonorities. The present Scottish Ensemble is a rather different group from the one that commissioned and recorded the arrangement several years ago, however, and current artistic director Jonathan Morton showed sensitivity in not overloading the piece but letting the translucent textures ring out.

Two short works by Takemitsu, Nostalghia and Music of Training and Rest, completed the programme - rare outings for two string-ensemble curiosities.

· At Queen's Cross Church, Aberdeen (01224 641122), on February 26, then touring.