As so often before, Busch sought a remedy for pain in work. An immense amount of repertoire had to be rehearsed with the Quartet, since the four were committed to a Beethoven cycle and other projects. Busch and Serkin had again been invited to play in Reykjavík and this time the pianist was able to go. They also persuaded Irene, against her better judgment, that it would be good for her to take a break from the sadness pervading Guilford and forsake the children for a fortnight; so towards the end of September the U.S. Air Force flew the three of them over to Iceland. On the 23rd the Duo opened a Beethoven cycle, rousing the audience to tremendous enthusiasm by playing, as their encores, two pieces by Helgi Pálsson which the composer had given Busch on his previous visit. They received equally rapturous applause for the Beethoven recitals on the 26th and 27th and then spent two weeks seeing something of Iceland. In a joint interview they gave to a local paper just before leaving, Busch expressed amazement at the number of Icelanders who enjoyed music, and Serkin said he would like to take a holiday in their country. Busch also acquired a pupil, as he invited Björn Ólafsson to study with him in 1947 and 1948.

But now, when the family were still trying to come to terms with Frieda's death, tragedy struck again: the fourth Serkin child, Susan Veronica, not quite a year old, had been left in the care of Irene's cousin Gertrud Cloos; and on 7 October, while her parents and grandfather were still away, she was accidentally strangled in her cot. ‘She was in a special crib for outdoor use, screened on all sides and on the lid, which was held down by a heavy spring’, her sister Elizabeth explained. ‘Somehow she wedged her neck between the lid and the bar, and although Gertrud left her unattended for only a moment, it was long enough to cut off her breath.’