Having made his name as a violinist Andrew Manze is turning increasingly toward conducting these days. Though he cuts a somewhat ungainly figure on the podium, his strengths are clear. With a sympathetic ensemble he brings the stylistic awareness of his period-instrument expertise to the repertoire in which he specialises.

This concert with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra opened with Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture in the 1830 Rome version, an opportunity to hear where this earlier version diverges from what is usually performed. However, these differences were ultimately far less interesting than Manze's reading of the piece. The clarity of tone in which penetrating woodwind took precedence over glassy sounding strings made a persuasive argument for Mendelssohn as a classicist out of time rather than a Romantic. This was down-to-earth Mendelssohn: the shimmering mystery of the outer sections was stripped away, and it was altogether rougher and wilder in the stormy passages.

In the same way, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, the conclusion of the programme, was life-affirmingly earthy. The first movement - with the tempo held firmly in check - was both spacious and rustic. The finale, taken at a whirlwind pace, was, at times, a little too rough and ready, though it was still possible to appreciate the overall vision.

Linking Mendelssohn and Beethoven, Manze opted for a contemporary of both - the now largely forgotten Louis Spohr. His virtuosic Second Clarinet Concerto was a vehicle for SCO principal clarinettist Maximiliano Martín in a fiery performance that exploited the jazzy sonorities of the instrument, but still found space for some beautiful cantabile playing in the slow movement.

· At Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, tonight. Box office: 01463 234234.