In the popular imagination, Nashville remains a city of rhinestones and twangy guitars, but the city’s world-famous reputation as Music City rests on so much more. Ever since the rise of the city’s recording industry, a wide array of musical styles has fed the city’s pulse, from the yearning fiddles of the Grand Ole Opry to the supple groove of the city’s R&B scene in the ’60s to today’s explosion of buzz-worthy rock ’n’ roll bands.

Since its own beginnings in 1946, the GRAMMY®-winning Nashville Symphony has been at the very heart of that Nashville sound. For decades, the players in the orchestra have been the same pros adding sparkle and polish to the country and pop records being cut in the studios along Music Row. And in a town that has always prided itself on being the creative hub for a uniquely American art form, the Nashville Symphony has maintained an abiding commitment to performing, commissioning and recording the music of American composers.

The orchestra’s earliest seasons included music from Barber, Copland and Persichetti—at a time when their work was fresh and new — along with homegrown works like Charles Faulkner Bryan’s Bell Witch Cantata. The same holds true in the 21st century, as the orchestra, now under the leadership of Giancarlo Guerrero, continues to champion the work of this country’s most distinctive musical voices, including Michael Daugherty, Richard Danielpour and Roberto Sierra (all of whom are included on this recording) along with hometown heroes like Edgar Meyer, Béla Fleck and Ben Folds.

This “Best of” collection, drawn from seven years’ worth of commissioning and recording projects, captures the full breadth of the American experience. Michael Daugherty taps into popular culture with his Superman-themed Metropolis Symphony, while Stephen Paulus’ Grand Organ Concerto draws inspiration from hymns and folk tunes. The music of Richard Danielpour and Roberto Sierra reminds us that we live in a nation of immigrants, with thematic elements that draw on each composer’s respective roots in Persian and Latin culture. The music of Astor Piazzolla, meanwhile, expands the scope of American music to include the composer’s beloved Argentinean tango.

Recorded in concert at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Live From Music City also captures this world-class venue’s crystalline acoustics and the palpable sense of excitement you can feel every time the Nashville Symphony takes the stage. Warmth, reverberation, clarity — it’s all here, delivered by an orchestra that’s truly in tune with its place and time.

-- Jonathan Marx, V.P. of Communications, Nashville Symphony