So many composers have been neglected in concert halls and opera houses due to prejudice that devoted musicians have decided to do something about it. Among them are violinist Curtis Stewart and conductor James Blachly, whose new album, ‘American Counterpoints’, focuses on African American composers Julia Perry (1924 79) and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004), whose creative gifts as presented here deserve to be embraced widely.

The ‘counterpoints’ in the disc’s title serve as a metaphor for the richness of musical expression found in the repertoire performed with urgent and elegant sophistication by Stewart, Blachly and the first-rate Experiential Orchestra, a New York-based ensemble. Perry and Perkinson wrote in numerous genres, including individual takes on the concerto and the symphony.

The album’s gem is Perry’s Violin Concerto (1968), a score of exceptional originality, its six movements unfolding in a seamless narrative of contemplation and sharing. The lyrical and spiky language abounds in arresting colours, textures and lines. Stewart takes the solo part to the eloquent heights, savouring every gesture in tandem with the vibrant orchestral writing, which Blachly and his players invest with striking lucidity.

Perry’s range is also on display in the distinctively scored Symphony in One Movement for Violas and String Basses, which packs a world of vital incident into eight minutes, and two affecting transcriptions: Prelude for Strings (arranged by Roger Zahab from the solo piano version) and Ye, Who Seek the Truth (arranged for strings by Jannina Norpoth from the original for tenor, choir and organ).

Perkinson commands attention as a composer of varied stylistic personalities. The three-movement Sinfonietta No 1 reveals his ability to use spare materials to vivacious and tender effect, while the jubilant Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk gives Stewart another opportunity to bask in soloistic exuberance.

And then there’s Stewart’s own work, We Who Seek for solo violin, verse, strings and electronics. Blending bits of Perry’s Ye, Who Seek the Truth with bursts of hip hop, it’s a blast from the past and the present.