Rheinberger & Hanselmann: Violin Sonatas

Album review

The Liechtenstein pianist and composer Jürg Hanselmann is considered a profound expert on the piano and piano chamber music of his compatriot Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901). He has already recorded his complete piano works and the two piano concertos. Together with Rainer Wolters on the violin, he now presents the two violin sonatas, which are complemented here by an original composition.

Jürg Hanselmann received his first music lessons at the Liechtensteiner Music School in Vaduz. His earliest compositions date from this time. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Bern Conservatory, Switzerland and studied piano with Albert Schneeberger and Kristina Steinegger, also Harmony and Counterpoint with Erwin Hochuli. He received his Teaching Diploma in the spring of 1980 and in the following summer, the Soloist Diploma with Distinction. To further his pianistic studies, he went to London to study with the Hungarian pianist Louis Kentner and to Frankfurt with the Russian pianist Irina Edelstein. He also participated in Master Classes held by the Beaux Arts Trio and Mieczieslaw Horszowski. From 1983, he studied composition and analysis for several years with Sandor Veress. Through Veress, Jürg Hanselmann can trace a musical pedigree back to his countryman Rheinberger. Veress was a pupil of Kodaly who studied with Hans (Janos) Koessler. Koessler himself was a pupil of Rheinberger. © ARS-Produktion