In a programme inspired by storytelling, Scottish Ensemble shone with a collection of pieces spanning eras and genres that was at once vividly varied yet perfectly coherent. Garth Knox’s ‘Quartet For One’ is a theatrical viola solo written through the lens of a locked-down violist missing his quartet which involved. Guest Director Lawrence Power emulating each absent string player.

John Cage’s ‘Story’ from Living Room Music (a percussive speech quartet set to the words of Gertrude Stein’s poem ‘The World Is Round’) was quirky and uplifting, while Brett Dean’s arrangement of Kate Bush’s ‘The Man With The Child In His Eyes’ was a beautiful harmonic illumination of the 1978 song.

Schoenberg’s early sextet Verklärte Nacht was the real meat of the programme though. The ensemble performed with deep insight and graceful tenderness, each player seeming to cherish every single note. The newly styled Hub with its sofas and little footstools has a cool, comfortable and classy vibe, though (call me old-fashioned) I’m not as sold on the encouragement to get your phone out. Programming and playing like this deserve an audience’s full attention.

Scottish Ensemble reviewed at The Hub as part of Edinburgh International Festival.