Making a long anticipated return, Clio Gould, the Scottish Ensemble’s most fêted former director, took on some of the most fiendish works in the repertoire with her husband and the current director Jonathan Morton. No hints of “it’s my party” marital tension here, though — Morton’s very different mastery of this ensemble suffers from no such insecurities.

Celebrating their 40th anniversary — that’s the Ensemble, not Morton and Gould — this concert designed to show off the versatility and diversity of this large string ensemble worked to thrilling effect. It began with a face-off, Morton’s band versus Gould’s in Tippett’s folky, jazzy Concerto for Double String Orchestra, the two violins feeding off each other, occasionally spatting amid a flurry of ecstatic strings. Bulked up with excellent student strings from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the breadth of sound in the adagio was superb, with only a fleeting loss of focus.

Gould took centre stage for Berio’s devilish, absorbing Corale, wrestling with reams of sheet music spread out over three stands. If she was doing the musical equivalent of drawing in a big breath before swimming the Channel underwater, so, soon, were the audience. A furious flurry of primordial oscillations and grinding purpose, Gould was magnificent, while behind her, Morton counted feverishly, bringing in his mixed strings with millimetre-perfect precision.

Gould and Morton met again on equal terms for a very enjoyable performance of Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Gould’s fluid, effortless virtuosity complementing Morton’s more stylised flair. Then it was a Scottish Ensemble standard, Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Nothing standard about the performance, however, with Gould leading the small ensemble high at the rear of the stage and Morton directing the bulk. A lovely, rich sound, perhaps a few imbalances but nothing to complain of.

The one caveat? The Grieg unexpectedly tacked on at the end. However punchily played, it dispelled the effect of an exquisite Fantasia and a perfectly weighted programme.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010