Cedille Records has just released the second in its three-CD series devoted to 20th-century composers of African descent, inspired by CBS Records' pioneering Black Composers Series of the 1970s.

        It's an impressive project, illuminating a little-known body of exceptional music by extraordinary composers. The conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta is founding director Paul Freeman, one of America's most distinguished African-American maestros.

REVIEWS

Chicago Sinfonietta, Paul Freeman, Conductor    African Heritage Symphonic Series, Vol. II    Cedille Records; 3 1/2 stars    CD $15.99    Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Freeman, Conductor; Natalie Hinderas, Piano; Sanford Allen, Violin    Black Composers Series    DSO/Sony; 3 1/2 stars    2 CDs: $18 plus shipping online or call (313) 576-5597.

        Ulysses Kay's Overture to Theater Set (1968, dedicated to Robert Shaw) is ebullient, and jazzy, somewhat in a Bernstein vein. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker's Lyric for Strings (1941) is a gorgeous find, and its flowing lines are beautifully felt by these players.

        Panama-born Roque Cordero is represented by his Eight Miniatures for Small Orchestra, an attractive suite inspired by the strong rhythms and colorful melodies of Latin America. Although Mr. Cordero uses serial techniques, it is accessible, witty and tuneful.

        Hale Smith weaves an arresting palette in Ritual and Incantations, a score full of mystery accented by African drumming. Adolphus Hailstork's Epitaph: For a Man Who Dreamed (1979), a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is a lush score of neo-impressionistic strings and noble brass that builds in a powerful crescendo.

        The Detroit Symphony has re-issued its own two-CD collection from the original nine-LP Black Composers Series.

        Dr. Freeman conducts the Detroit orchestra in Mr. Cordero's Eight Miniatures and Mr. Smith's Rituals and Incantations. Also here are Dr. Walker's Piano Concerto, a striking addition to the concerto repertoire. The first movement, percussive in the style of Prokofiev, is both abstract and melodic. The slow movement is a musical memorial to Duke Ellington. Soloist Natalie Hinderas, one of the first African-American women to perform with a major orchestra, gives a stunning performance.

        Violinist Sanford Allen makes a brilliant case for Mr. Cordero's Violin Concerto, a thorny, edgy work in the 12-tone language popular in the mid-20th-century.

        Dr. Hailstork's Celebration! evokes Copland and Bernstein, and is music to raise one's spirits.
       

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