As the opus numbers indicate, both these string works are early Glière - the Octet was composed in 1900 when he was 25 and just finishing his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, the Sextet (his third) four years later.
They are both substantial works - the Sextet lasts half an hour - constructed from well-made, yet utterly unmemorable music, with a Russian flavour and betraying obvious debts to Borodin, Tchaikovsky, even Glinka, yet without any individual character.
As you would expect from players of this Berlin pedigree the performances are first rate, but this is really only a disc for those who have tired of mainstream chamber music and want to explore something more arcane.
