Gwendolyn Toth

Gwendolyn Toth is the director of the New York City-based early music ensemble, ARTEK, and a soloist on early keyboards (organ, harpsichord, fortepiano). She is married to harpsichordist Dongsok Shin, and they have three children.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

In Noordbroek




I am in Noordbroek, Holland where the weather is rainy and cold. I have been here practicing since last Friday. Dongsok joined me yesterday, and today we had our first full day of recording. Bach: Prelude & Fugue in B minor; Bruhns: E minor Praeludium; and several smaller pieces by Boehm and Scheidemann have all been recorded. The organ sounds fantastic, and Dongsok has a great mike setup that really makes the recorded organ sound exactly as it sounds to us in the live church.
Pictures attached (outside of church, the organ, and graveyard just outside the entrance). More pictures soon!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Update on our fortepiano







Dongsok and I own an antique fortepiano, which on our summer travels in 2010 we determined was 99% likely to be a Karl Benedict piano made in Graz, Austria, sometime in the last decades of the 18th century.
The piano had a soundboard from a 1940s restoration, and we made the choice to remove it and replace it with a new soundboard made to match the specifications of 18th century fortepianos. Marco de Lellis of Queens is doing the work.

I am posting pictures of our piano once the bad soundboard was removed and during the installation of the new soundboard.