grünfeld became the most popular salon pianist in vienna, performing frequently in the salons of viennese high society as well as the große musikvereinssaal, the große konzerthaussaal and the bösendorfersaal. in addition to his solo performance, he often appeared with the arnold rosé quartet and the hellmesberger quartet as well as frequently performing and touring with his brother heinrich grünfeld. his concert tours took him around austro-hungary, to paris, london, germany, scandinavia, holland, russia, poland, romania, estonia, constantinople, belgrade and the usa. he received many honours and titles for his performances, including: k. k. kammervirtuose in 1881; order of saint stanislaus 3rd class in 1884; knight's cross 2nd class of the saxe-ernestine house order, court pianist to the german crown prince and officer's cross of the romanian order of the crown in 1887; order of the red eagle 4th class in 1896; knight's cross of the order of franz joseph in 1897; order of the lion and the sun 3rd class and order of st. sava 3rd class in 1900; order of the medjidie 3rd class in 1901; officer's cross of the order of the star of romania in 1902; prussian order of the crown 3rd class and order of the iron crown in 1908; decoration for services to the austrian red cross. he was appointed professor at the vienna conservatory in 1897.