Omni Tampalini Series Concludes with Barrios

Giulio Tampalini at the Chiesa dei Disciplini Orzivecchi with a broad view of the altar (from the final Midweek Melodies video)

Today saw the performance of the last of the eight videos in the Midweek Melodies series of performances released by OMNI on-Location. Guitarist Giulio Tampalini chose to conclude the series with a composition by the Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist Agustín Barrios. HIs Wikipedia page describes Barrios as “one of the greatest performers and most prolific composers for the guitar;” and those talents were evident in Tampalini’s account of his music.

The selection was taken from Barrios’ Opus 8, a collection of four waltzes for solo guitar. More specifically, Tampalini played the third of those waltzes. Once again, the video was captured at L’Oratorio e la Chiesa dei Disciplini, which is located in the town of Orzivecchi in the Italian province of Brescia; and Daniel Lama was responsible for both video and audio. The duration was only four and a half minutes, but that provided enough time for the waltz to be structured in rondo form. It is probably also worth noting that, even within the scope of such brevity, Barrios was never shy about deploying his virtuosity. Nevertheless, Tampalini jumped through every hoop that Barrios offered with grace and, every now and then, a bit of wit.

As readers know, I did not account for every step along the way of Tampalini’s journey; but I was definitely glad to be there at the finish!