Retrospective Rodrigo from Giulio Tampalini

Giulio Tampalini on the altar of the Church of Santa Giulia (from the penultimate Midweek Melodies video)

September was a busy month (which was no surprise); and, as a result, I was “otherwise engaged” when the sixth of the eight videos in the Midweek Melodies series of performances released by OMNI on-Location became available. However, today saw the release of the seventh video, which is also the penultimate offering in the series. For those that do not recall, this series began with a performance of “Fandango,” the first piece in Joaquín Rodrigo’s Tres Piezas Españolas (three Spanish pieces), which he dedicated to Andrés Segovia, followed by the performance of “En los trigales,” released almost exactly a month ago. Today guitarist Giulio Tampalini continued his “Rodrigo cycle” with a performance of a third piece, entitled, once again, after a dance form, “Passacaglia.”

Many readers probably know that, while the passacaglia was a stately dance, the music was structured around a basic theme that would be repeated with more and more elaborate variations. (This is particularly evident in what is probably the best known composition in this structure, the BWV 582, composed in the key of C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach and structured  as a set of variations, which then climax with an extended fugue.) One has to wonder if Rodrigo had been inspired by Bach, because his own variations are just as intricately developed. Nevertheless, Tampalini’s performance never flags in rising to the challenge imposed by each variation. Indeed, given my long-time acquaintance with BWV 582, both the music and the performance had me on the edge of my seat as Tampalini negotiated the stream of elaborate complexities.

Once again, the video was captured at the previous performance site for this series, L’Oratorio e la Chiesa dei Disciplini, which is located in the town of Orzivecchi in the Italian province of Brescia. Daniel Lama was responsible for both video and audio. The latter could not have been more satisfying. More to the point, however, the camera work provided a generous number of insights into the fingerwork required to achieve a satisfying account of Rodrigo’s score. Having been exposed to an engaging diversity of Rodrigo compositions, I have to say that this one commanded my attention from beginning to end, even if the overall duration was less than ten minutes!

Only one more video remains in this series, which will be released at 10 a.m. one week from today.