I have seen some fantastic concerts in my time but the excitement and energy I experienced in the performances here have to be amongst the best so far.
The venue was the atrium of the Rector's Palace, which was open to the elements within a courtyard. The acoustics were natural and fantastic. The audience were under the balcony, on the balcony and gallery and sat up the two staircases, very informal, and accompanied to the cooing of pigeons roosting for the night.
I think the performers had very little rehearsal time, generally rehearsing in the 3 hours between the venue closing to the public as a tourist attraction and the concert start and little else (other than what they could possibly grab at the hotel in between). This added to the adrenalin flow and the "anything can happen in a live concert" edge of seat feeling.
There was a chamber orchestra on the first night (Bavarian Radio Orchestra) who were utterly magnificent and the rendition of Mozart K364 was so so different from that I heard at the Proms recently. This is how it was meant to be I believe. The viola was played by Julian Rachlin (who swapped between violin and viola quite fluidly) and the communication between him and Maxim was wonderful to see and hear.
The highlight for me was the Shosti quartet 8. Added excitement as Mischa Maisky's music blew away at a difficult page turn! So much energy between the players it was incredible.
Also the Brahms piano quintet was fantastic, with Janine Jansen deserving a very special mention.
Itamar Golan was the pianist. I wouldn't have recognised him in the street, his new image suits him well!
. Any plans to go along to Janine's music festival in December? She'll be playing chamber music with 'a few friends'; including Leif Ove Andsnes 
sounds like it was absolutely wonderful!