Readers of The Herald will be given an exclusive preview of the highlights of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's new season in a high-quality CD free with the paper on Saturday.

Classical Experience contains almost 40 minutes of music and is the first collaboration between The Herald, the SCO and Linn Records, the recording arm of Linn Products, which was formed in 1983 and specialises in classical and jazz music.

The five pieces included on the CD represent a taste of the mainstream highlights of the forthcoming season. They include excerpts from the Brahms Violin Concerto, with Joseph Swensen on violin and conducting; Mendelssohn's Symphony No 3, aka the Scottish Symphony; and Dvorak's Czech Suite. Alison Mitchell, the orchestra's principal flautist, is, not for the first time, brought into the spotlight as the soloist on Mozart's Flute Concerto in G.

"The CD gives a few hints at the pleasures coming up in the new season and, in really high-quality sound, gives a snapshot of the international quality of the SCO's work," says Roy McEwan, managing director of the SCO. "We hope it will inspire people to come to hear the orchestra live in concert and to explore our large range of music on disc."

Three of the pieces are conducted by Swensen, former principal conductor of the orchestra, while another sees him as soloist and conductor. "Swensen is extremely dynamic and has become very well known in Scotland for that characteristic," says Michael Tumelty, classical music critic for The Herald. "Although it is commonplace now for soloists to direct the orchestra, it is less commonplace in something as complex as Brahms.

"Swensen was well established as an international concerto soloist on the violin before he took up conducting. When he took on the job of principal conductor, the violin took second place. He slowly began bringing the violin back in, and this is a classic example of him doing a double act."

The orchestra has had a whirlwind summer that saw the SCO undertake the biggest Scottish touring schedule to date and five appearances at the Edinburgh Festival. In addition to recent performances in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the US, the orchestra also travelled to Shetland. A tour of the central belt saw the company eschew the main cities for smaller venues in places such as Rutherglen and Dunfermline to attract new audiences. Now the SCO is poised for a new season that will see it perform live, somewhere in Scotland, almost every week between October and May.

In Glasgow, the new season opens on October 5 with a Sibelius concert, marking the 50th anniversary of the death of the Finnish composer and consisting entirely of his work. Aberdeen will enjoy the same the following night. "The opening concert is a real highlight for me," admits McEwan. "It marks the first appearance of Olari Elts as our new principal guest conductor. He's a wonderfully talented musician and he has a particular feel for the sound world of the great symphonist Sibelius."

Other highlights include the Mendelssohn programme in October, which has some of his most popular music conducted by Frans Bruggen, and a series of concerts entitled Director's Notes that will feature four different pianists who will undertake the dual role of directing and playing. "These are four very individual artists, quite different from each other but sharing a virtuosity and musicianship that is exceptional," explains McEwan. "Olli Mustonen is the newcomer to the SCO, although internationally well known, but the other three - Anderszewski, Zacharias and Kovacevich - all have developed relationships with the SCO."

Formed in 1974, the SCO has an international reputation for innovation, and more contemporary music is represented by the Adventurer series, comprising four concerts, including one in November that will bring together classical and jazz traditions. The centrepiece will be the premiere of a new work by Mark Anthony Turnage, which the SCO has commissioned for the fabulous jazz bass player John Patitucci.

In addition to live concerts, the SCO has produced 10 albums with Linn since they began working together in 2002. "In my opinion the SCO is one of the best chamber orchestras in Europe," says Caroline Dooley, business manager at Linn Records. "Our partnership with them is a unique artistic and commercial collaboration. Other orchestras have formed their own recording label over the past couple of years, which costs them considerable investment. Because Linn Records already has an established set of worldwide distributors as well as a PR department, we are able to carry out this work on behalf of the orchestra."

In January, Linn launched a new website, which it claims is the first in the world to offer very high quality downloads. "The future of music isn't horrible compressed MP3 files. There is actually a future in digital music which is high quality," adds Dooley. Since the sophisticated download facility was introduced, Linn has sold 40,000 tracks.