Some secrets are better kept than they should be. The excellent Brodksky Quartet is resident at Cadogan Hall but attracted a modest audience for last night’s concert of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.

The Russian connections between the works were implied rather than obvious. Beethoven’s Op 59 No 1, the first of the three Razumovskys, was commissioned by a Russian count.

This long, spacious work, played with graceful energy and urgent rhythmic drive, influenced Tchaikovsky in his D major Quartet Op 11, his first experiment in the medium.

While Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for String Quartet were first performed far from his Russian homeland, in Chicago.

The Brodsky play with familiar empathy. Three of them have been together since student days nearly three decades ago.

The stylish cellist Jacqueline Thomas, seated at an angle like a blonde version of Augustus John’s Madame Suggia, has a big, flowing sound, radiant but not dominant. A newer arrival is first violinist Daniel Rowland, who brings fiery passion but some technical inconsistency. Moments in the Beethoven were patchy but the Tchaikovsky sang and the Stravinksy had ideal sharp definition and finesse.
Next in series: 14 January 7.30pm (020 7730 4500).