Against what, exclaimed a friend during the interval, can you judge this performance? What indeed, for The Classic Buskers inhabit a strange and wondefully irreverent world where musicality is laced with a decidedly wacky dose of humour.

Underpinned by dexterous technical virtuosity, the duo of Michael Copley and Ian Moore perform -- as they put it -- "classical music without all the boring bits.'' This was accomplished, on Friday evening, with a vast and often bewildering range of instruments: while Copley showed his impressive skill on flutes, recorders, horns, piccolos, pan pipes and ocarinas of every conceivable shape, size and disguise, Ian Moore who, initially, at any rate, played deferential `straight man', accompanied him on the accordion.

Standing tentatively, faces appropriately dead-pan for tackling the music of the masters, they launched a highly-entertaining evening with the strains of Rossini, progressing rapidly through such gems as Haydn's Trumpet Concerto ("without the trumpet and without the orchestra''), a giddying version of the Polovstian Dances from `Prince Igor', snatches of `Carmen' and even a few bars of `The Flight of the Bumble Bee, with Moore frantically stabbing the air (and himself) with a fly swatter to lend habitation to a title.

Noting that, so far, they hadn't devoted much time to Romanian folk music, they soon put this to rights with Copley giving a dazzling display on the pan pipes and there was more folksy stuff to come, this time on the ocarino, with the captivating Clog Dance from the ballet `La Fille Mal Gardeme'.

The second half became even more manic as Ian Moore temporarily abandoned his accordion to play the piano, choosing the first ("it's the easiest'') of Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues.

By now, it came as no surprise to see that this was to be accomplished sitting on the floor with his back to the Steinway and hands flung behind him over his shoulders and guided to middle C by lining it up with the middle pedal ("they're what you use to drive the piano with.'') His musical glory was shortlived, however, as Copley sidled on to compete with a verion of `Ave Maria', agonisingly warbled on what seemed to be a rubber chicken.

The ocarino came into its own again in a plaintive rendition of `Dove sono' from `The Marriage of Figaro' which in turn led to a selection, flutes a-flutter, from `The Nutcracker' and Moore singing, in counter tenor vogue, a glorious spoof on Wagnerian heroines complete with flying plaits, horns and helmets.

The grand finale of this hugely enjoyable evening included selections from `Swan Lake', a beautiful, if bizarre account of Schubert's `Trout Quintet' (for accordion and `trout' flute) and ending with that chicken again -- this time, sporting a frothy tutu to partner Ian Moore in a gyrating pas de deux as they ended in a blaze of ballet music by Tchaikovsky.

Both highly accomplished musicians, Michael Copley has played solo recorder with leading orchestras, including the English Chamber and has recorded Vivaldi's recorder concertos and the Bach Brandenburgs, while Ian Moore is also an organist and conductor who founded The Cambridge Voices, which has since appeared on the BBC and toured Europe.

As The Classic Buskers, they have their own radio show in the UK and are very popular in Europe where they have appeared at the famous Salzburg Festival.

On Saturday they gave a full-length matinee, a masterly way of opening children's eyes to the wonders and perhaps surprising fun of classical music.

PATRICIA CALNAN RREVERENT WORLD -- Classical Buskers Michael Copely and Ian Moore have introduced audiences the world over to the music of the masters -- but without `all the boring bits.' THEATRE REVIEW THR REVIEW REV