Fitting a classical music concert into a busy working schedule is not an easy task. They are events that commonly take up entire evenings in leisurely pursuit of the perfect high note. The Hebrides Ensemble's Rush Hour concerts are, therefore, the ideal tonic to the hectic working week - easily digestible, post-work soirées with a complimentary glass of wine thrown in to assist with the wind down.
The programme pairs a much-loved classical standard with a shorter, more challenging contemporary work. That's a more than manageable one-hour diversion for anyone who's curious about contemporary chamber music and still wants to get home in time for tea.
"I just get tired of the formula," says William Conway, the Ensemble's artistic director. "As a music lover, it's great to be able to enjoy music at a different time of day and not necessarily have it dominate your whole evening. It's a very concentrated dose, this one hour. You can play a really juicy piece, a real masterpiece, and still have time to say something about it by what you programme alongside it."
To launch the season, Conway has opted for Brahms's two string sextets, which will be performed on successive Thursdays with, first, Mark-Anthony Turnage's Returning, and young Edinburgh composer Helen Grime's Into the Faded Air.
String sextets of note are few. Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht are popular examples, but versions for string orchestra are more common than the originals. Both composers wrote only one, which leaves Brahms as the only leading figure in classical music to have composed two.
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"Many people do, quite reasonably, believe that Brahms has had the last word on the string sextet genre with these two wonderful pieces, and I could not easily argue with them," says Conway.
"However, fine and exciting works are still being created for this very versatile combination of instruments."
By coupling the very modern music of Turnage and Grime with that of a grand master like Brahms, Conway is confident that he can shine new light on two much-loved string sextets that are nearly 150 years old. The concerts might be short, but they are challenging.
"It's very simply about loving good music," says Conway, "and liking to play it to people in unusual ways.
"It's too easy to churn out a great masterpiece in the same way. Too often, people will put Brahms alongside Strauss, say, some really obvious choice just designed to get bums on seats, and then the music, wonderful though it is, is in danger of repeating not only itself but its associations.
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"I want to juxtapose the acknowledged beauty of the Brahms with a snapshot of what's happening now."