An Art Deco Music Stand!

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 Volubile, J. Donjon

After getting a second coffee on that first morning back in Brattleboro, I lingered and played discreetly in the lobby of the  Latchis Hotel and Theater. The Latchis is currently undergoing an exemplary, multi-year revitalization…learn more about the Brattleboro Arts Initiative here. This is a real success story that other communities and arts organizations might do well to emulate!

When I record in different spaces, I’ve been known to prop my music up in dusty window-wells or on the gritty floors of construction or demolition sites, but this is the first Art Deco music stand that I’ve ever used. It was very civilized, I have to admit, and an auspicious way to start my whirlwind road trip through New England!

The arpeggiated arabesque phrases of Johannes Donjon’s Volubile – the opening piece in his 8Etudes de Salon -seemed well suited for the generous, live acoustic.

Here is a detail from the lobby’s interior,  just around the corner from the fabulous Latchis theater,  “…a Monument to the Moderne” circa 1930.