These days Brahms just isn't sexy. His unsensational, substance-before-manner music is not headline-grabbing enough.

He is forgotten in repertoires and left off programmes. Lets face it, he isn't everyone's cup of tea -- Hugo Wolf's disdain for his rival composer is well-know. His criticism? "Brahms cannot exult''.

A charge difficult to deny, but unlike Wolf and his fellow late-Romantics, Brahms was never striving for exultation.

Just as well really as it was this undervalued composer who saved the day at the Celebrity Chamber concert last night.

In his own bulky way he added weight to a concert that, until he came along was merely pleasant. Like the lobster, the meat of this concert was in the tail.

Ernst Kovacic, the internationally acclaimed Austrian violinist who led the artists, did well in choosing this heavy piece, Piano Quartet Opus 25, as a perfect counter to the unusual lightness of Mozart's Kegelstatt Trio and the short bursts of Mahler's Piano Quartet Movement and Strauss' Sextet from Capriccio.

Due to a complete absence of notes in the official programme, David Owen Norris, the pianist, explained before the piece that this was a typical Viennese concert, with the main course served at the end.

The opus with four movements was written by Brahms at the age of 42 when he was at the peak of his career and could afford to compose large and expansive works.

And it was played to perfection by an emotive Kovacic on lead violin, Judith Busbridge on viola, Ralph Wallfisch on cello and Norris on piano.

The flying bows worked up to violent crescendos before falling into softer lulls, the musicians finding the balance between rhythmic freedom and co-ordination.

The power, accuracy and clarity of the performers was phenomenal. Kovacic's energetic movements echoed in some inspiring interplay with Busbridge. But Wallfisch's huge hands moving up and down the cello were not overshadowed by the other stars.

The short solo by Kovacic and the rhythmic plucking of the cello and viola in the third movement were just some of the best highlights.

The first movement was a loud clash of sound with all strings shouting to be heard. The second was jollier and faster, before becoming almost violent.

The third with the sweet sound of cello and beautiful echoing between violin, viola and cello.

But the finale was masterful, not just dramatic, but full of melodrama, filling City Hall with its life and breath. Who needs exultation when you have this.

French clarinettist Pascal Moragues was another high point of the short evening. His interpretation of Mozart's Kegelstatt Trio illustrated why he has been named one of the best clarinetists in the world and why most music-lovers have some of his performances on their CD shelves.

But there was something missing in the overall spirit of this Mozart piece, a lightness unusual in his work. It may simply have been that the piano was in the wrong place for the acoustically-challenging hall, leaving the feeling that it could have been a great performance, but just fell short of the mark, despite no single performer having done anything wrong.

THEATRE THR