Black Forest

Today we carried on sailing up-river, passing through some huge locks where the ship fitted exactly - 5cm to spare on each side. Then we drove up into the Schwartzwald, the Black Forest, steep hills, picture book villages, forests (of course). Our destination was Sankt Peter, an ancient Benedictine monastery rebuilt in Baroque and Rococo style for a concert of Haydn and Mozart string quartets.

For anyone interested in Baroque instruments (you know who you are), The extras show a modern copy of a fortepiano that Mozart might have played. It is signed Christoph Kern, who I assume is the local contemporary maker rather than his early 19th century predecessor. It was beautifully played by Kristian Bezuidenhout with the Consone Quartet in Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds K. 452 in Mozart’s own arrangement for strings.