VIC FIRTH SIGNATURE ARTIST
GWEN BURGETT THRASHER

Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher is assistant professor of percussion at the Michigan State University College of Music.

She began her musical career very early, studying piano and violin at the age of two. As a percussionist, Thrasher has maintained a career as an active solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. Thrasher has also performed numerous solo recitals throughout the United States and Japan, and has been a featured soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia and the Interlochen Philharmonic.

Thrasher was winner of the Keiko Abe Prize at the second World Marimba competition in Okaya, Japan, and the top prize winner at the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts’ ARTS competition. She was awarded the performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and has also been the recipient of the Outstanding Young Musician award from the Peabody Conservatory and the Yale Alumni Award.

Thrasher has studied with world-renowned professors Robert van Sice, Keiko Abe, and John Beck. She holds degrees from the Interlochen Arts Academy, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music.

Available now through

Listen to a few selected movements from
Gwen's recording of her transcriptions of the Bach Cello Suites!

Suite #1 in G Major, BWV 1007 – Prelude

Suite #2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 – Courante

Suite #5 in C Minor, BWV 1011 – Gavottes I & II

Suite #6 in D Major, BWV 1012 – Gigue

Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher has wowed audiences worldwide with her breathtaking performances, and is now releasing this highly anticipated debut recording of her own transcriptions of Bach’s Complete Cello Suites. These reverent but fearless arrangements are destined to become a staple in marimba repertoire and her technically dazzling and musically passionate playing is setting a new standard for marimba performance. Already said to be “one of the best marimba recordings ever made” and “out of this world performance” this double CD set is going to change the way you hear Bach and think about marimba.

A must-have recording for all serious percussionists
and percussion educators alike!

Excerpts from the linear notes:

Before Johann Sebastian Bach, little music existed for unaccompanied cello. But when Bach found a new and warmly supportive patron in Prince Leopold at Cöthen, he began to compose a great deal of chamber music – sonatas and partitas for violin, the six Brandenburg Concertos – and his magnificent Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello.

I was first inspired to perform the Cello Suites on the marimba after hearing Bach's own transcription for the lute of Cello Suite No. 5 (Lute Suite No. 3). In this work, all of the musical content is clearly derived from the Cello Suite, but Bach changed some musical elements. Some bass notes were added in the lute version and some chords and double stops were filled out. These changes were made to accommodate the different technique, timbre, and performance capabilities of the lute. This was inspiring to me because the marimba is similar in many ways to the lute. In my opinion, the marimba, like the lute, functions well as a polyphonic instrument. The four-mallet technique of the marimba also lends itself to polyphonic and contrapuntal writing.

After delving into the structure and harmony of the music, I did my best to produce transcriptions suited to performance on the marimba. If Bach had a modern marimba, I wonder what he would have done?

     – Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher

GWEN'S VIC FIRTH MALLETS OF CHOICE:
		Robert Van Sice Signature Keyboard - M111 Very soft. For a warm‚ round sound that is perfect for low register chorales. L = 17"
		Robert Van Sice Signature Keyboard - M112 Soft. Produces a broad sound with tremendous projections that is dark‚ but not muffled. L = 17"
		Robert Van Sice Signature Keyboard - M113 Medium soft. A general mallet that covers the lower four octaves of the marimba. L = 17"
		M114 Medium. The most popular model in the series, this mallet covers the entire range of the marimba and produces a singing sound that is full of life.
		M115 Medium hard. Bright, but not to the point of "xylophone-like" brilliance.
		M116 Hard. When extreme cutting power and a sharp edge are required.