Surely Brahms, with his love for the feeling of good fellowship known as “Gemuetlichkeit,” was smiling down on the Buffalo Chamber Players’ tribute to him Wednesday.

Though the concert culminated in the magnificent String Quintet in G, Op. 111, informality was the order of the evening. The two viola, piano and voice songs were left out because a singer was sick. In their place, we got two pieces involving clarinet, played by Patti DiLutis. This switch was explained in breezy fashion from the stage.

The Freudig Singers, local favorites, were on hand to sing seldom-heard music: a “Burial Song,” Op. 13, and a “Little Wedding Cantata” Brahms wrote but never published. “Freudig” is German for joyful, and the singers lived up to their name.

An extra piece got tucked in just for the heck of it. This was a “Hymn to Josef Joachim,” an unpublished tongue-in-cheek number Brahms wrote for his friend Joachim, the famed violinist. Amy Licata played the violin part with a lilt that recalled Fritz Kreisler.

Though there was a lot of humor, this was marvelous music, much of it intense. The night began with the opening movement from the Clarinet Quintet. DiLutis played it along with violinists Licata and Shieh- Jian Tsai, violist Kate Holzemer and cellist David Schmude. Di- Lutis’ playing was lovely, blending seamlessly with the other instruments. It was a polished, gossamer performance, high praise when you are talking about a masterpiece like this.

The Freudig Singers’ two numbers were highlights. It’s rare to get to hear these songs at all, let alone live. And at this volume! Chorus director Roland Martin, introducing the pieces, worried the paint would peel off the walls. These singers packed a lot of power.

Their sheer joy kept the “Burial Song,” with its quotes from hymns and references to death, from becoming somber. The wind band that accompanied them, augmented by Dinesh Joseph on timpani, also kept its sound light and lyrical.

The kicky little wedding song was over too soon. It left me craving Brahms choral music. He wrote so much of it! I want more.

The Andante from the Clarinet Sonata No. 1 had Martin on piano and DiLutis on clarinet. It had a nice shape and direction, and DiLutis played the beautiful melody with unaffected expression.

As for the mighty string quintet, it got a heck of a treatment at the hands of Licata, Tsai, Holzemer, cellist Feng Hew and violist Janz Castelo, the leader of the Chamber Players. The piece was exhilarated and vigorous. Several times, as Castelo warned might happen, melodies went missing in the explosion of sound. And if you sat on the viola side, as I did, you had to catch what you could of the violins, and be content.