Academic Diary

This program offers three lively, colorful, and captivating orchestral works by two United States composers, born almost a century apart. These pieces exhibit the fruitful exchange and flow of musical material between North and South America that has long played a role in popular music, apparent not only in commercial song and dance music using Latin American melodies and rhythms but also in early jazz and blues where tango rhythms are so often heard, as in W. C. Handy's St. Louis Blues. And both Gottschalk in the 1850s, close to the beginning of a creative American musical tradition, and Gould in the 1950s, when such a tradition had flowered considerably, show a combination of seriousness of approach with a popular touch.

Jazz is an allegory for life. And for both, gaining independence is a long process. That is the narrative of IN DEPENDENCE. Stephanie Lottermoser's new album is about striving for independence in all facets of life: "There really is no such thing as complete independence. We are all integrated into structures in which we operate. Sometimes that runs through your whole life.” Musically, Stephanie Lottermoser has consistently taken her freedom from the start and has long since found an independent and recognizable language. Already with the opener "Love Again" it becomes clear: This is Stephanie Lottermoser. Stylistically, she remains true to her predecessor album "Hamburg" with her synthesis of jazz, soul, funk and pop: "In the best sense, I try to develop myself musically by working on my own sound and freeing myself from the expectations of others."