Rudolf Buchbinder

Rudolf Buchbinder is one of the legendary performers of our time. The authority of a career spanning more than 60 years is uniquely combined with esprit and spontaneity in his piano playing. Tradition and innovation, faithfulness and freedom, authenticity and openmindedness merge in his reading of the great piano literature.

Buchbinder is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the first soloist to be awarded the Golden Badge of Honor by the Staatskapelle Dresden.

His interpretations of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven in particular are regarded as setting standards. With the edition BUCHBINDER:BEETHOVEN, Deutsche Grammophon presents a complete recording of the 32 piano sonatas and the five piano concertos in the run-up to Buchbinder's 75th birthday in December 2021, thus creating a sounding monument to two outstanding Buchbinder-Beethoven cycles of recent times. Buchbinder was the first pianist to play all of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas within one festival summer at the 2014 Salzburg Festival. The Salzburg cycle was recorded live for DVD (Unitel) and is now also available on nine CDs.

His recordings of Beethoven's Complete Piano Concertos document a truly remarkable project. Staged as a series of concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, it was the first cycle of its kind in the legendary hall’s 150-year history. Buchbinder was joined for the five concertos by five of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras, namely the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons, the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under their chief conductors Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev and Christian Thielemann.

As a contribution to Beethoven's 250th anniversary in 2020, Rudolf Buchbinder initiated a cycle of new Diabelli Variations following the genesis of Beethoven's epochal Diabelli Variations op. 120. In cooperation with eleven concert houses and festivals worldwide, and with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the new work was commissioned from eleven leading composers of our time. The project reflects Beethoven's work into the 21st century and impressively underlines the universality of his language across all borders. Under the title "The Diabelli Project", Deutsche Grammophon released the world premiere recording of the New Diabelli Variations alongside a new reading of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, which Buchbinder last recorded before in 1976. The double album marked the beginning of his exclusive partnership with Deutsche Grammophon.