Press Room

Warner Classics & Erato releases January 2026

Highlights include:

  • Mendelssohn and Enescu octets from Quatuor Ébène and Belcea Quartet
  • Eric Lu‘s Schubert Impromptus and Piotr Anderszewski‘s late Brahms
  • 79-CD boxed set of Sir Adrian Boult’s stereo recordings, featuring new remasterings by Art & Son

New titles

Enescu & Mendelssohn: Octets 
Quatuor Ébène & Belcea Quartet
CD / digital
Release date: Jan 9

Two of the world’s leading string quartets – Quatuor Ébène and the Belcea Quartet – come together to perform octets written 75 years apart by phenomenally gifted teenage composers Mendelssohn and Enescu. The two ensembles first collaborated a decade ago and have since developed a strong partnership. Pierre Colombet, first violinist of the Paris-based Ébène, takes the lead in the Mendelssohn, and Corinna Belcea, founder of the eponymous London quartet, leads the Enescu.

Schubert: The Impromptus
Eric Lu, piano
CD / digital
Release date: Jan 9

American pianist Eric Lu – who recently won First Prize at the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition – performs Schubert’s Impromptus D.899 (Op.90) and D.935 (Op.142). Lu previously performed the Op. 90 Impromptus during the 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition, which he also went on to win. He says: “I have a real sense of a journey with these works, in particular with Op.90, having lived with them intensely in preparation, on stage and, finally, in the recording studio. For me, the Impromptus are some of the greatest jewels in the piano literature. They are magnificent, deep pieces of music, and the very essence of Schubert.”

Brahms: Late Piano Works 
Piotr Anderszewski, piano
CD / digital
Release date: Jan 16

Piotr Anderszewski’s newest album presents works from Brahms’s Fantasies (Op. 116), Three Intermezzi (Op. 117), Four Pieces for Piano (Op.119), and Six Pieces for Piano(Op. 118), in an order carefully programmed by the pianist himself. Written during the final decade of Brahms’s life, these are mature works that show the composer’s intimate, subtle side. Anderszewski says: “These late pieces by Brahms are like a last will and testament. … It is this, perhaps, that accounts for the beauty of these pieces.”

Be Love
RIOPY, piano/composer
CD / digital / LP
Release date: Jan 16

Be Love is the newest album from French pianist-composer RIOPY, whose fusion of minimalist, pop, jazz, and cinematic idioms has accrued more than a billion streams to date. Described as “an evolution of sound – and of self,” the album comprises six cinematic piano-instrumental tracks and six more expansive ones featuring the artist’s first vocal recordings. Mixed by Grammy winner Oli Jacobs (of Peter Gabriel, Lana Del Rey, and Van Morrison fame), Be Love complements RIOPY’s delicate piano playing with his whispers and chants.

Heimat: Beethoven/Schumann/Brahms 
Kenji Miura, piano
CD / digital
Release date: Jan 23

Kenji Miura’s second album for Warner Classics is titled Heimat, the German word for homeland. Comprising works by three German composers – Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata, Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, and Brahms’s Seven Fantasies – the repertoire draws inspiration from Miura’s move to Germany, where he has now lived for most of his life. The pianist explains: “The three works on this album trace an emotional journey that mirrors my own path to understanding both this music and the place I now call home”.

Paranormal Music Chamber
JB Dunckel, composer/percussion; Wei-Yu Chang, double bass; Shuichi Okada, first violin; Cécile Tête, second violin; Grégoire Vecchioni, viola; Cyrille Lacrouts, cello; Lorraine Campet, double bass; Marie Laforge, flute; Harry Allouche, conductor
CD / digital
Release date: Jan 23

Two years after releasing his first solo piano album, Paranormal Musicality, JB Dunckel releases Paranormal Music Chamber, a new reimagining for string quintet. Dunckel, who is also one half of the famed French electronic duo Air, teamed up with composer and pianist Harry Allouche to create these arrangements for string quintet, recorded with musicians from the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris.

Catalogue

Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 1-6, Overtures & Concertos
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
5 Hybrid SACDs
Release date: Jan 23

Newly remastered by Studio Circé and released on Hybrid SACD, this set gathers together Herbert Blomstedt’s recordings of Nielsen’s symphonies, overtures, and concertos with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (which appointed Blomstedt as its first conductor).

Sir Adrian Boult: The Complete Warner Classics Edition – The Stereo Recordings
79-CD boxed set
Release date: Jan 30

Dedicated to the stereo recordings of Sir Adrian Boult, this edition forms an essential counterpart to the previously issued Mono Recordings 1920-57. Boult embraced the transition from mono to stereo and drew on a new generation of producers and engineers to achieve a remarkable balance of clarity, depth, and power. This collection features the equivalent of 17 CDs of new remasterings by Art & Son Studio as well as the first stereo release of his recording of Beethoven’s Romances for violin and orchestra with Sir Yehudi Menuhin.

Digital reissues

Herbert von Karajan digital re-issues

As part of an ongoing project, Warner Classics is re-releasing recordings by Herbert von Karajan, making them available on digital streaming services for the first time. Originally recorded in analog, the recordings have been painstakingly remastered to state-of-the-art standards at Abbey Road Studios.

The following albums will be released on streaming services in Jan 2026:

Jan 2:

  • Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 and 9
    With the Wiener Philharmoniker
  • Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, Tragic Overture, Haydn Variations
    With the Berliner Philharmoniker

   Jan 9:

  • Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C , D. 944 “The Great”, Rosamunde ballet music
    With the Berliner Philharmoniker
  • Schubert: Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished” – Haydn Symphony No. 104 “London”
    With the Berliner Philharmoniker

   Jan 16:

  • Beethoven: Missa solemnis in D, Op. 123
    With the Berliner Philharmoniker
  • Overtures from Weber, Wagner, Nicolai, Mendelssohn
    With the Berliner Philharmoniker
  • Haydn: The Seasons, Hob. XXI:3
    With the Berliner Philharmoniker

Upcoming Feb 2026 releases

New titles:

  • Feb 20: Orchestre National de France, Cristian Măcelaru, conductor – Elsa Barraine: Symphonies No. 1, 2, Les Tziganes, Song-Koï Audio
  • Feb 27: Martin James Bartlett, piano: Bach/Mozart/Britten Concertos Audio– Assets
  • Feb 27: Bertrand Chamayou, piano – One to One
  • Feb 27: Elisabeth Leonskaja, piano: Schumann Audio – Assets

Catalogue:

  • Feb 6: Maria Tipo, piano – Complete Warner Classics Recordings (incl. Erato, Cetra)
  • Feb 6: Sir Simon Rattle, conductor; Wiener Philharmoniker –  Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies (5 CDs, re-release)
  • Feb 20: John Dowland Edition (10 CDs) Artwork/booklet
  • Feb 27: Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe: Complete Teldec Recordings

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

Associated labels: EuroArts

Jazz de Paris
Bigband der Deutschen Oper Berlin
CD / digital
Release date: Jan 16

The Big Band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin celebrates its 20th anniversary with a focus on French jazz, including music by Michel Legrand, Jacques Brel, Boris Vian, and Django Reinhardt. Performing under Manfred Honetschläger’s musical direction, featured soloists include guitarist Biréli Lagrène, vocalist and cellist Mathilde Vendramin, and singer Thomas Pigor.

Oct 2025 news release
Nov/Dec 2025 news release

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