Warner Classics & Erato releases February 2025
Highlights include:
- A new German lieder album from Fatma Said
- Stravinsky’s opera Le rossignol starring Sabine Devieilhe in the title role
- South African cellist-composer Abel Selaocoe’s highly-anticipated second album
- Sibelius and Barber concertos from Renaud Capuçon
- Martha Argerich‘s complete EMI, Teldec, Erato, & Warner Classics recordings
New titles
Lieder
Fatma Said, soprano
CD / LP / digital
Release date: Feb 7
Assets
On her new album, soprano Fatma Said sings Romantic lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. Her program includes some of the world’s best-loved lieder, including “Ständchen” from Schubert’s Schwanengesang, “Widmung” by Schumann, and Brahms’s “Wie Melodien zieht es mir.”
“My priority was to convey the characterization of the words most of all,” explains Said, who is joined on the album by a number of musician friends, including baritone Huw Montague Rendall; clarinetist Sabine Meyer; harpist Anneleen Lenaerts; pianists Malcolm Martineau, Joseph Middleton, and Yonatan Cohen; the Quatuor Arod; and the Walhalla zum Seidlwirt male-voice ensemble.
Stravinsky: Le rossignol
Sabine Devieilhe, Cyrille Dubois, Chantal Santon Jeffery, Laurent Naouri
Les Siécles / François-Xavier Roth
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 14
Assets
Captured in March 2023, Sabine Devieilhe sings the title role in Stravinsky’s miniature three-act opera Le rossignol in Olivier Py’s production at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. The cast also features such leading French soloists as Cyrille Dubois, Chantal Santon Jeffery, and Laurent Naouri, with support from Les Siècles and Ensemble Aedes, conducted by François-Xavier Roth.
Hymns of Bantu
Abel Selaocoe, composer, cello, and vocals
CD / LP / digital
Release date: Feb 21
Assets
Innovative South African composer, cellist, and vocalist Abel Selaocoe follows his acclaimed 2022 debut, Where is Home (Hae Ke Kae), with a remarkable new body of work: the twelve tracks of Hymns of Bantu. Scored for forces that range from African percussion to solo cello, electric bass, and orchestra, these see Selaocoe interpret traditional Bantu music alongside compositions by Bach and Marin Marais, highlighting their continuities rather than their differences. “The crux of the album is about celebrating those that have come before us, and how we are all connected,” he says. “It’s allowing classical music to again sit in the same space as where I’m from – allowing Bach to sit next to overtones and the world of throat singing.”
Selaocoe’s upcoming live performances include dates with the Seattle Symphony (Feb 6 & 8) and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (Feb 14–16).
Sibelius / Barber Violin Concertos
Renaud Capuçon, violin
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Daniel Harding
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 21
Assets
Renaud Capuçon performs the violin concertos of Sibelius and Barber with Daniel Harding conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Beethoven: King Stephen, The Ruins of Athens, Leonore Prohaska
Accentus; Insula Orchestra / Laurence Equilbey
Digital only
Release date: Feb 21
Artwork and press release
Beethoven Wars is a new concert initiative from conductor Laurence Equilbey. A multimedia anime “space opera,” the project draws on two rarely-recorded music dramas by Beethoven: King Stephen, written to commemorate Stephen I, founder of the Kingdom of Hungary, and The Ruins of Athens – featuring Beethoven’s famous Turkish March – which was composed as incidental music for a play of the same name. This digital album offers audio recordings of the two works from the Accentus choir and Insula Orchestra, both of which were founded by Equilbey herself.
Catalogue
The Warner Classics Edition (complete EMI Classics, Teldec, Erato, & Warner Classics recordings)
Martha Argerich, piano
48-CD box set
Release date: Feb 21
Artwork & booklet
Martha Argerich’s relationship with Warner Classics dates back to her victory at Warsaw’s International Chopin Competition in 1965. Over several decades she recorded a rich catalogue of live and studio recordings for EMI Classics, Teldec, Erato, and Warner Classics, all of which are gathered together in this new boxed set. The collection includes all the recordings previously released in the Complete Warner Recordings (2016) and The Lugano Recordings (2018) boxed sets, as well as four additional new recordings released between 2016 and 2021.
Ravel: Adagio from Piano Concerto in G, Ma mère l’Oye, Gaspard de la nuit
Martha Argerich, piano
LP / digital
Release date: Feb 7
Artwork
This LP gathers together Martha Argerich’s recordings of three works by Ravel – the Piano Concerto in G, Ma mère l’Oye, and Gaspard de la nuit – which were originally released between 2008 and 2017. The digital edition also features two additional tracks: Sonatineand La valse for two pianos, recorded with fellow pianist Sergio Tiempo.
Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos
Daniel Barenboim, piano
New Philharmonia Orchestra & John Alldis Choir / Otto Klemperer
3 Hybrid SACD
Release date: Feb 7
Artwork & booklet
Daniel Barenboim and Otto Klemperer recorded Beethoven’s five Piano Concertos and Choral Fantasy with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in 1967. The album has been newly remastered for SACD by Circé Studio.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 “Choral”
Philharmonia Orchestra / Otto Klemperer
3 Hybrid SACD
Release date: Feb 14
Artwork & booklet
Recorded with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer’s 1957 studio and live recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony were initially remastered from the original tapes for The Warner Classics Remastered Edition: Vol.1 Symphonic Works, which was released in June 2023. They have now been newly remastered for SACD by Circé Studio.
Chopin: Études Opp. 10 & 25
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Hybrid SACD
Release date: Feb 28
Artwork
After winning the 1960 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Maurizio Pollini signed an exclusive contract with EMI and recorded two albums devoted to the Polish composer. During post-production however, the pianist withdrew his approval without explanation for the second recording, featuring the Études. He eventually granted his approval in 2011, and this new SACD edition is the first to be remastered in high-resolution from the original tapes. An LP vinyl release will follow in April.
Upcoming March 2025 releases
New titles:
- March 7: Bertrand Chamayou, Ravel: Transcriptions & Homages (title TBC)
- March 21: Beatrice Rana, Bach Concertos (Assets)
Catalogue:
- March 7: Michel Béroff, The Complete Erato Recordings (42CD)
- March 14: Claudio Arrau, Beethoven: 12 Piano Sonatas & the 5 Piano Concertos (8CD)
Upcoming U.S. performances by Warner Classics & Erato artists
- Jan 29–Feb 2: Beatrice Rana (with New York Philharmonic)
Lincoln Center, New York, NY - Jan 30–Feb 2: Augustin Hadelich (with Dallas Symphony)
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, TX - Jan 30– Feb 2: Nathalie Stutzmann (with Atlanta Symphony)
Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, GA - Feb 1: George Li (with Minnesota Orchestra)
Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN - Feb 1: Fazıl Say (with Nicolas Altstaedt)
Linehan Concert Hall, Baltimore, MA - Feb 4: Fazıl Say
Athenaeum Center, Chicago, IL - Feb 6: Fazıl Say
Annenberg Center for the Perfoming Arts, Philadelphia, PA - Feb 6 & 8: Abel Selaocoe (with Seattle Symphony)
Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA - Feb 6–8: Nathalie Stutzmann (with Boston Symphony)
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA - Feb 7: Fazıl Say
George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC - Feb 7 & 8: Conrad Tao (with Caleb Teicher)
Boston Arts Academy Theater, Boston, MA - Feb 7–9: George Li (with Los Angeles Philharmonic)
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA - Feb 8: Fazıl Say
Shea Center for Performing Arts, Wayne, NJ - Feb 14: Conrad Tao (with Caleb Teicher)
Meany Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle, WA - Feb 14–16: Abel Selaocoe (with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra)
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Saint Paul, MN - Feb 16: Conrad Tao (with Caleb Teicher)
Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek, CO - Feb 17 & 18: George Li (with Stella Chen)
Marathon High School Performing Arts Center, Marathon, FL - Feb 23: Conrad Tao (with Caleb Teicher)
Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, TN - Feb 27–Mar 1: Nathalie Stutzmann (with Atlanta Symphony)
Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
Partner labels: EuroArts
A Celebration for the “Duke”
Bigband & Orchestra of the Deutschen Oper Berlin
With Fola Dada, vocals; Tony Lakatos, saxophone
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 14
Assets
This recording captures a tribute concert to Duke Ellington, performed as part of Musikfest Berlin on September 16, 2024. The program features some of the greatest hits of Ellington’s big band era alongside compositions from his later creative period, such as “Night Creature” and “A Tone Parallel to Harlem.”
Partner labels: MPHIL
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Münchner Philharmoniker / Sergiu Celibidache
CD (Release date: Jan 31)
Digital (Release date: Feb 28)
Artwork
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
Münchner Philharmoniker / Sergiu Celibidache
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 28
Artwork
September 2024 marked the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth. The MPHIL label celebrated this milestone with the digital release – initially exclusive to Apple Music Classical – of remastered versions of two of the Munich Philharmonic’s previously unreleased recordings with Sergiu Celibidache: of Bruckner’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, dating from 1984 and 1985 respectively. Both recordings will now be released on CD: Symphony No. 7 on January 31, and Symphony No. 8 on February 28. This will coincide with the wider digital release of the two recordings, in both stereo and MSM immersive m-spatial formats.
Partner labels: Opera Rara
Donizetti: Songs – Volume III
Michael Spyres, tenor
Carlo Rizzi, piano
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 21
Assets
Donizetti: Songs – Volume IV
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, mezzo-soprano
Giulio Zappa, piano
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 21
Assets
One of the central figures of Italian bel canto opera, Donizetti also wrote approximately 200 solo songs. Most are only rarely performed and, until recently, some were completely unknown. Curated by musicologist Roger Parker under the supervision of the label’s artistic director, Carlo Rizzi, Opera Rara is currently in the process of releasing the composer’s complete solo songs in a series of eight recital albums, issued between October 2024 and September 2026.
Representing volumes 3 and 4 of the series, the new titles feature tenor Michael Spyres (Opera Rara’s Artistic Ambassador and Oper! 2024 Artist of the Year) and mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux (winner of the Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition) respectively.