Niccolò Castiglioni’s music has at its heart a quest for different timbres and new musical perspectives. After the neo-Classical exercises of his student years he moved towards serial techniques with explorations of contrast and transformation. Castiglioni made his name with Inizio di movimento, consolidating this with Cangianti in which the piano becomes a ‘lyrical instrument of the most tender poetry’. The award-winning Italian pianist Aldo Orvieto continues his survey of piano works by one of Italy’s most unique 20th-century composers.

The award-winning Italian pianist Aldo Orvieto continues his exploration of piano works by Niccolò Castiglioni – one of Italy’s unique 20th-century composers. Includes two world premiere recordings. Volume 1 is available on GP862.

Niccolò Castiglioni was one of the most singular figures on the Italian music scene of the latter half of the 20th century. Including world première recordings, Volume 1of this complete edition reveals the exceptional quality of Castiglioni’s early piano works, the cantabile solemnity found in his exploration of twelve-tone techniques, and the quest for simplicity in later pieces that include the Seconda sonatina discovered among the composer’s papers after his death. The acclaimed pianist Aldo Orvieto has recorded and performed extensively throughout his career and is a specialist in Italian 20th-century repertoire.

Colleagues who had the opportunity to hear Niccolò Castiglioni play can vouch for his excellence as a pianist, in particular his skill in performing Cangianti, a work he presented in Darmstadt in September 1959. It is a highly demanding work, not only due to its keyboard acrobatics but also because of its broad-ranging timbres. It is clear Castiglioni possessed an acute sensitivity for the instrument’s qualities which he developed during his studies in Salzburg under Gulda and Zecchi. His was a conscious yet primarily “natural” pianism, in a Chopinesque sense, endowed with precious distillations of timbre that are no longer mere ornament but a surprising and mysterious creative element. This development was to extend to Debussy; the late Debussy would not have eluded Castiglioni’s prehensile hands when he was attracted to the spell of Webern’s labyrinths. This release collects all operas that this great author has written for piano and orchestra.

Musical America’s ‘Conductor of the Year’ for 2015 Gianandrea Noseda continues his Chandos ‘Musica Italiana’ series with select works of Niccolò Castiglioni (1932-96), an intellectual and an aesthete who occupied a singular place in the profound renewal of Italian and European musical life of the 1960s-‘70s.Having a predilection for clear sonorities and airy, transparent textures, Castiglioni created his own unique and original artistic philosophy, from tonal harmonies to the more fragmented and experimental.Mr. Noseda leads the Danish National Symphony and guest vocalists.