No other version of the Sextet is currently listed, so Philips's reissue can be welcomed for that reason, and for the fact that the performance is alert and cleanly played. The 1968 recording is good too, and the engineers have found a satisfactory balance between the two horns and string quartet, which would be impossible to achieve under normal concert-hall conditions. So far so good, but there is a somewhat plain, unimaginative quality in the playing. Rhythms tend to be a touch wooden, and there are few telling inflexions of phrase. Similar defects are also apparent in the Berliners' performance of the Septet. There the first movement Allegro is delivered in brisk, efficient, no-nonsense fashion; the Adagio chugs along somewhat uneventfully, and the remaining movements show little personality in performance. The 1972 recording is again good, but the new transfer has brought a slightly shrill quality to the strings.
The Vienna Octet's performance of the Septet on Decca is vastly superior, and shows qualities of wit and imagination which completely elude the somewhat over-serious Berlin players. Here is real affection for the music, sharper characterization, more warmth and humanity, and delicious, very Viennese charm. Though Decca's recording dates from 1959 it provides rather more body and atmosphere than the Philips. The coupling is an excellent 1972 version of the Mendelssohn Octet.'