Wife Of Touring Pianist Is Also A Musician

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32050, 26 July 1969, Page 2

Wife Of Touring Pianist Is Also A Musician

The youngest member of the Vienna Trio, Rudolf Buchbinder, the 22-year-old pianist, is the only one who is married—and his wife is a pianist, too. But the attractive Mrs Buchbinder gave up all thoughts of a musical career upon her marriage four years ago. One pianist in the family was enough, she said in Christchurch yesterday. "It might have beat different , if my husband had played another instrument, but I have no wish to try to compete. I like very much just to be his wife.” Bom in Hungary, Mrs Buchbinder first met her husband as a child, when they were both studying the piano at the Academy of

Music in Vienna. She was 11 and he was nine. It was at this time that the

[Vienna Trio was formed. Rudolf Buchbinder joined forces with the 13-year-old IPeter Guth (violinist) and 111-year-old Heidi Litschauer (cellist), also students at the academy. Their career totether has taken them all over the world. Mrs Buchbinder met her husband again by chance five years ago, when she was teaching at the ConserveItorium in Vienna, and they were married almost 12 months later. Since their marriage, Mr Buchbinder has been doing more solo , work and little of their travelling is done with the other members of the trio. Only about four months of each year are spent in their penthouse in the middle of Vienna. The rest of the time they are in Europe, America or Britain. The couple would like to [have children. • “Two would

be nice,” said Mrs Buchbinder. “It would mean, though, that my husband would not tour for such long periods.”

She attends all Mr Buchbinder’s rehearsals and performances, *nd fiuds her study of music very useful. In their spare time, the couple do everything together. “We like to go to exhibitions and sightseeing, and my husband just loves to come shopping with me. 1 could not buy anything without him. He has very good taste,” she said. They collect paintings and other art pieces for their home, and during a trip to Brazil Mr Buchbinder had jewellery made for his wife to his own designs—amethyst earrings and a ring. When she is in Vienna, where her family lives also, Mrs Buchbinder teaches the piano privately.