This creative approach bears similarities with György Ligeti's micropolyphony, but important aesthetic and stylistic differences set them apart.
Niculescu's work as a teacher made him a mentor to a whole generation of younger Romanian composers, among them Costin Miereanu, Horațiu Rădulescu, and Dan Dediu [ro].
Niculescu's work Ison II for wind and percussion permutates simultaneous segments of a diatonic melody producing a reverberating complexity of sound which is held together by a strong sense of modal clarity.
Opus Dacicum for orchestra applies similar textural explorations but with a stronger sense of harmonic movement, often with a Wagnerian lushness that lends this music a sensuous appeal a world apart from Ligeti's cluster-oriented sonorities.
In 1996 he was elected titular member of the Romanian Academy, while in 2000 he was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania, Commander rank.