For this Norwegian music critic, visiting a German music festival always means excitement and great expectations for, given its long traditions and proud institutions, German musical life has a special attraction. However, the reality may sometimes be quite astonishing. So it was that after about an hour on the train from Düsseldorf Airport, climbing down the steps at Witten Hauptbahnhof, I couldn't help asking myself, ‘How can it be that this rather anonymous-looking little town will, for the coming couple of days, be the centre of the relatively narrow field of contemporary chamber music?’.