Snow, Sage and River God

There I was this morning sitting in the Malmaison eating breakfast (included in the special offer) and thinking about looking for another River God sculpture whilst in Newcastle and then suddenly realised – there was one just outside the window. So, here he is – a bronze sculpture on the Quayside outside the Malmaison. It is thought that he was inspired by a strong man, who used to perform on the Quayside, wrapped in chains and eating fire. The original plan was for a gas fire to appear from the figure’s mouth . . . that never happened!

We thought we might be trapped in the North East by snow, but we weren’t. Just a layer of slushy stuff on the streets in Newcastle and all roads were clear by the time we set off for home this afternoon.

Last night
We were at the Sage in the small Sage Two Hall. Four members of the Royal Northern Sinfonia performed Oliver Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. And they were fabulous. It was a spellbinding performance. The central seats had been taken out and the musicians were in the middle, so the audience was ‘in the round’ and it was just a wonderful atmosphere. There was total rapt attention, especially when the clarinet or the cello or the violin was featured. Superb. The piece was written (and had its first performance) in a German prison camp during the Second World War – just amazing. 

I won’t say much about the piece before, except that it was apparently about snow, involved nine musicians, didn’t appear to have any notes, never mind the wrong notes in the wrong order and went on for an hour. I longed to see the score for the guy who spent the entire time rubbing sheets of paper on a surface. The only good thing was that the composer had the sense to add the occasional loud crash so as to wake up all the people who had fallen asleep.