Universal Music Japan Releases Wolfgang Schneiderhan’s Violin Works 

The collection features 24 of the late Schneiderhan’s classic recordings in Ultimate High-Quality CD

To mark the 110th birthday anniversary of the Austrian violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan (1915-2002), Universal Music has re-released 24 of his classical recordings in high-quality UHQCD with a green color label coat.

Among the recordings include “Brahms: Complete Violin Sonatas,” recorded in his 40s when Schneiderhan, who specialized in Brahms from a young age, was at the peak of his career; “Schubert: Sonatas, Rondos, Fantasias;” “Schubert & Dvorak: Sonatinas;” and many more. 

Schneiderhan was known for his crisp tone and classical performance style, which continues to influence musicians today. 

To purchase and listen to the re-releases, click here. 

Raised in a musical family, Schneiderhan studied violin with Otakar Sevcik from age eight. He later studied with Julius Winkler who helped him develop his own musical style.

Schneiderhan made his solo debut performing J.S. Bach’s Chaconne in D minor at age 10, followed by his orchestral solo debut performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto at age 11. 

He later served as the concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic. He also held positions at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, and the Lucerne Conservatory — where he encouraged his students to pursue orchestral performance and to explore modern compositions. 

As a performer, he often composed his own cadenzas for Mozart’s concertos and adapted Beethoven’s Violin Concerto based on Beethoven’s piano cadenzas. Schneiderhan gave the Viennese premiere of Elgar's Violin Concerto, the premiere performance of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s revised Concerto Funebre, and often performed contemporary works such as Henze's Violin Concerto in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1952, Schneiderhan left an extensive discography on the Deutsche Grammophon label, recording all 10 Beethoven violin sonatas with Wilhelm Kempff.