Niccolò Castiglioni was a slightly younger contemporary of Luigi Nono and Luciano Berio whose career trajectory was somewhat similar, though not altogether the same. Born in Milan, Castiglioni originally composed in a neo-classical style that was sidelined once he encountered the Darmstadt summer courses in the late '50s. Intoxicated with the possibilities opened up with the works of Anton Webern, for most of his life Castiglioni wrote in a highly concentrated, crystalline style that favored higher registers and the ...
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Niccolò Castiglioni was a slightly younger contemporary of Luigi Nono and Luciano Berio whose career trajectory was somewhat similar, though not altogether the same. Born in Milan, Castiglioni originally composed in a neo-classical style that was sidelined once he encountered the Darmstadt summer courses in the late '50s. Intoxicated with the possibilities opened up with the works of Anton Webern, for most of his life Castiglioni wrote in a highly concentrated, crystalline style that favored higher registers and the instruments that could play up there. Although serial composition was an important component of his work, his music was not exclusively serial-derivative and toward the end of his life, Castiglioni began to borrow back some elements belonging to neo-classicism as well. He taught in the United States from 1966 to 1970; among his later composition students was the young Esa-Pekka Salonen.Italian label Stradivarius' Niccolò Castiglioni: Inverno In-Ver is a good overview of the different things...
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