RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-622

A resolution recognizing the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra.

WHEREAS, the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra (NPO) is an all-volunteer community orchestra featuring amateur and professional players from throughout Middle Tennessee offering area orchestral musicians opportunities to perform while providing high-quality symphonic music free of charge to a wide variety of audiences; and

WHEREAS, the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra recently performed at East Nashville Magnet High School and Apollo Middle School; and

WHEREAS, in celebration of Black History Month, these two concerts showcase the powerful poetry of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison in the song cycle Honey and Rue by André Previn. With rhythms of jazz, blues and overtones of spirituals, this cycle speaks to the black, outsider experience from a female perspective; and

WHEREAS, in 1992, renowned black soprano Kathleen Battle persuaded the iconic black novelist Toni Morrison and the American composer André Previn to collaborate on a song cycle exploring the struggles and desires of African Americans in a woman’s voice. NYT critic Bernard Holland wrote of the songs, “Meter and rhythm, tempo and dynamics bend to Ms. Morrison’s changing poetic movement and work hard to serve her wistful outsider’s point of view. Mr. Previn’s background as a jazz artist made him uniquely suited to set these texts; and

WHEREAS, the program is bookended by an orchestral transcription of J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #2 with its folk song roots. J.S. Bach originally wrote the majestic Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ, but its monumental form is well suited to full orchestra and entered into American pop culture with the Stokowski orchestral transcription that he wrote for the beginning of the Disney movie, Fantasia. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 also has a popular connection: Ukrainian folk songs form the melodic and rhythmic basis of the four movement symphony; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that the Metropolitan Council recognizes the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra for their contributing to Nashville’s long and rich musical history and relish its remarkable achievements and inspiring applause from the community.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:

Section 1. The Metropolitan Council hereby goes on record as recognizing the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra.

Section 2. The Metropolitan Council Office is directed to prepare a copy of this Resolution to Mr. Christopher Norton, Music Director and Conductor of the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra.

Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.

Sponsored by: Brett Withers, Mina Johnson, Karen Johnson, Robert Swope, Steve Glover, Mary Carolyn Roberts, Larry Hagar, Freddie O'Connell, Jeremy Elrod, Brenda Haywood, Nick Leonardo, Jeff Syracuse, Kathleen Murphy