Three facets of Castiglioni’s homage to the past are represented on this disc from the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Danish National Concert Choir and the two stratospheric sopranos Teresia Bokor and Sine Bundgaard in Salmo XIX. The conductor is Gianandrea Noseda, who has been a major contributor to our understanding of 20th-century Italian music. In La Buranella (1990), Castiglioni follows in the footsteps of Respighi (Ancient Airs and Dances) and Stravinsky (Pulcinella) in going back to the music of a bygone age and giving it a new life through orchestration. Here Castiglioni chooses various harpsichord movements by Galuppi – born on Burano, hence the title La Buranella – and reimagines them in instrumental terms, preserving the Classical sensibility but amplifying the colour spectrum.

The simplicity of La Buranella presents a sharp contrast to Altisonanza (1990 92), a three-movement, 20-minute work with, at its centre, a Sarabanda pointing to Castiglioni’s predilection for old forms. The music, though, is thoroughly contemporary, rich in energy and vibrancy, rhythmically complex and brilliantly orchestrated, with a hint of Messiaen about it in the suggestions of birdsong but with a creative personality of its own. The setting of Psalm 19 ratchets up interpretative complexity to another level altogether, with swift Baroque-sounding choral semiquaver runs pitted against syncopated exclamations and choral clusters, together with the sky-high singing of the solo sopranos and punchy orchestral activity. Not, perhaps, a setting for regular Sunday use but a powerful, fervent, haunting experience when performed as compellingly as it is here.