Johann Sebastian Bach — Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

Cello, transcribed for marimba
Senior recital, spring 2023

Program notes

Johann Sebastian Bach's Solo Cello Suites follow the traditional form of the German instrumental suite – an intricate prélude followed by a set of dances: allemande, courante, sarabande, minuet, and gigue. Bach's dance suites have a rich social history, reflecting aristocratic forms of entertainment emulated by many among the middle and upper classes during the European Baroque era. The first cello suite opens with a familiar steady-paced prélude, followed by a balance of lively and slower dances. Throughout my time at Stanford, I've prepared many of these individual dances from various suites for marimba and I am thrilled to program the first cello suite in its entirety.

Bach's compositional genius predates the popularization of the marimba in the mid-20th century by about three hundred years. Nonetheless, percussionists have adapted transcriptions of the unaccompanied violin, lute, and cello suites to the versatile and wide-ranging instrument, utilizing its five-octave range to highlight the marimba's virtuosity and the musicality of Bach's compositions. This is not to say, however, that a marimbist approaches Bach in the same way that a cellist would. Marimbists must consider the instrument's inability to sustain pitches as a bowed string instrument would be able to; the performer might choose to execute a roll – which involves repeatedly hitting the note to imitate the sustain of a bow – rather than allow for the natural rosewood bar to vibrate into the metal resonators below and dissipate in only a matter of seconds. Marimbists may also use the dexterity of four mallets to achieve polyphony, or the simultaneity of multiple notes at once.