Press Room

Warner Classics & Erato releases: February 2026

Highlights include:

  • Elsa Barraine symphonies from Orchestre National de France and Cristian Măcelaru
  • Maria Tipo‘s complete Erato recordings in a new 24-CD boxed set
  • Nikolaus Harnoncourt‘s complete Teldec recordings with Chamber Orchestra of Europe, marking tenth anniversary of his death

New titles

Elsa Barraine: Symphonies No. 1 & 2, Les Tziganes, & Song-Koï 
Orchestre National de France
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 20

French composer Elsa Barraine (1910–99) was a pupil of Paul Dukas and fellow student of Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. At the age of 19 she won the highly prestigious Prix de Rome, before going on to hold several public posts in French music. She spent more than 20 years as a professor and was also prominent in the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation years of World War Two.
Under the leadership of music director Cristian Măcelaru, the Orchestre National de France performs four rarely recorded works by Barraine: Symphony No. 1 (1931), which she completed in Italy; Symphony No. 2 (1938), ominously subtitled “Voïna,” the French transliteration of the Russian word for war; Song-Koï (Le fleuve rouge) (1945), an eight-movement evocation of the Red River that flows through Vietnam, composed in the year that the nation declared its independence from France; and Les Tziganes (1959), a work inspired by gypsy culture.

Bach / Mozart / Britten Concertos
Martin James Bartlett, piano
Mozarteumorchester
Howard Griffiths, conductor
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 27

English pianist Martin James Bartlett plays three works for piano and orchestra, spanning more than two centuries of music. Recorded in Salzburg with the city’s Mozarteumorchester and British-Swiss conductor Howard Griffiths, these are Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor (BWV 1052), Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat (“Jeunehomme”), and Britten’s Young Apollo for piano, string quartet, and string orchestra. To make the recording, Bartlett used a new critical edition of Young Apollothat corrected numerous errors and omissions found in earlier versions of the score. He explains: “This performance represents, in a sense, a second world premiere, finally realizing Britten’s vision as he wrote it.”

Schumann
Elisabeth Leonskaja, piano
CD / digital
Release date: Feb 27

Recognized in 2020 with the International Classical Music (ICMA) Lifetime Achievement Award, Elisabeth Leonskaja is one of the great pianists of our time. This 52-track Schumann anthology features her interpretations of the composer’s Sonatas Nos. 1 in F-sharp minor and 2 in G minor, as well as his Variations on the name “Abegg” in F, Papillons, Symphonic Etudes, and Theme and Variations in E-flat, “Geistervariationen.” Recorded in 2018–19 at Sendesaal Bremen, the album previously received a limited release from EaSonus in 2020.

Catalogue

Maria Tipo: The Complete Warner Classics Recordings (incl. Erato & Cetra)
Maria Tipo, piano
24-CD boxed set
Release date: Feb 6

Italian pianist Maria Tipo (1931–2025) came to international notice after winning the Geneva International Music Competition (1949) and placing third at the Queen Elisabeth Competition (1952). Giving more than 300 concerts in her early career, she earned the nickname “Neapolitan Horowitz” and support from such piano greats as Arthur Rubinstein. Later, she reduced her concert activity, focusing instead on teaching in Geneva, Bolzano, and Florence.
Marking the first anniversary of Tipo’s death on February 10, 2025, this 24-CD boxed set collates her complete recordings for Erato and Fonit Cetra. Together with her recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (1986), Busoni’s Bach transcriptions (1988), Bach’s Six Partitas (1992), and Chopin’s Nocturnes (1994), these include the first complete recording of Clementi’s sonatas, which remains one of Tipo’s most important contributions to the piano discography.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe: Complete Teldec Recordings
29-CD & 1-DVD boxed set
Release date: Feb 27

Starting in the mid-1980s, the collaboration between conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was highly significant in the world of historically informed performance. Comprising works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Dvořák, their recordings for Teldec proved that Harnoncourt’s radical, research-driven approach to Baroque music-making was equally transformative when applied to Classical and early Romantic repertoire with a modern instrument ensemble.
The release of this new complete boxed set marks the tenth anniversary of the conductor’s death on March 5, 2016. A second box of his recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra will be released in June 2026.

John Dowland Edition: Songs, Ayres and Dances
10-CD boxed set
Release date: Feb 20

English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer John Dowland is widely regarded as one of the foremost masters of the lute song. Marking the 400th anniversary of his death on February 20, 2026, this ten-CD boxed set collates recordings of Dowland’s ayres, songs, and instrumental works made between 1949 and 2021. Featured artists include Philippe Jaroussky, Jean Rondeau, James Bowman, Fretwork, The Boston Camerata, and The King’s Singers.

Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Wiener Philharmoniker
5-CD set
Release date: Feb 6 (re-release)

Originally released in 2003, this five-CD boxed set compiles Sir Simon Rattle’s live recordings of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, made with the Wiener Philharmoniker in May 2002.

Vinyl

Piano Lounge Classics
LP
Release date: Feb 20

This LP compilation of piano favorites pairs one side of classical staples by Grieg, Debussy, Brahms, Beethoven, and Chopin with a B-side of music by contemporary neoclassical composers Beving, Einaudi, Richter, Jóhannsson, and Tiersen.

Upcoming March 2026 releases

New titles:

  • March 6: Los Angeles Film Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor – Pictures at an Exhibition: The Paintings of Bob Peak [Warner Classics]
  • March 6: Daniel Lozakovich, violin; Hélène Mercier, piano – Lost to the World [Warner Classics]
  • March 13: Nemanja Radulović, violin; Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor; Philharmonia Orchestra – Prokofiev [Warner Classics]
  • March 20: Fazıl Say, piano – Schubert – Berg: Piano Sonatas [Warner Classics]
  • March 20: Matteo Myderwyk, piano / composer – Nocturnal Blues [Warner Classics]
  • March 27: Lyyra, vocal ensemble – Rising [Warner Classics]
  • March 27: Jakub Józef Orliński, countertenor; Michal Biel, piano – If Music… [Erato]

Upcoming U.S. performances by Warner Classics & Erato artists

Nov/Dec 2025 news release

Jan 2026 news release

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