• Tracks

Among the Italian composers who during the Sixties and Seventies took part in the profound renewal of Italian and European musical life, Niccolò Castiglioni (1932 - 1996) has always occupied an entirely singular place as an intellectual and an aesthete. As long ago as 1957, he, too, had begun to attend the legendary Ferienkurse in Darmstadt where, in 1958, John Cage burst onto the scene, leaving a hitherto apparently close knit group of composers irremediably divided in their assessment of the importance of this American musician. Yet, Castiglioni succeeded in devising a completely unique and original artistic philosophy which, to borrow Nietzsche's words, turned him into an unfashionable. During the Fifties, Darmstadt had become the centre for new music and was an obligatory calling point; thus Castiglioni was able to have some of his important works performed, such as Cangianti for piano, Tropi for six instruments, and Synchromie, a commission from Cologne Radio (1962). Already in these works it was possible as a composer: a predilection for clear sonorities, which he referred to as 'bubbling', mid-way between irony and fun; a true and highly individual passion for creating airy, transparent textures (the composer Alessandro Solbiati affectionately observed that his pieces 'knew not the bass clef'). to identify some characteristics which would reappear throughout his career.