Warner Classics & Erato releases May 2025
Highlights include:
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s complete Warner Classics lieder and song recordings, together for the first time in a centennial edition
- New recordings from pianists Elisabeth Leonskaja and Mariam Batsashvili
- Complete Mahler symphonies from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and chief conductors Mengelberg, van Beinum, Haitink, Chailly, Jansons, and Gatti
- Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim on LP
New titles
Influences
Mariam Batsashvili, piano
Digital / CD
Release date: May 16
Georgian pianist Mariam Batsashvili presents Influences, an album exploring the chain of influence from Haydn through Mozart and Beethoven to Liszt. A selection of her favorite piano sonatas, the program comprises Haydn’s Keyboard Sonata in D, Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 18 in D, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, “Appassionata,” and Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année “Italie.”
The album’s digital version also includes additional works by Liszt: his Liebesträume, Nos. 1 and 3, and “La Campanella” from his six Grandes études de Paganini.
Beethoven: Piano Concerto in E-flat “Emperor” No. 5 Op. 73, Quintet Op.16 for Piano and Winds
Elisabeth Leonskaja, piano
Orchestre Français des Jeunes / Michael Schønwandt
Digital / CD
Release date: May 23
Elisabeth Leonskaja considers Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto “the supreme piano concerto.” On her new recording, she performs it with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, a French national ensemble for exceptional instrumentalists aged between 16 and 25. She pairs the concerto with Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat, for which she is joined by four outstanding soloists from the orchestra: Cécile Colinet on oboe, Sacha Hannecart-Ségal on clarinet, Arsène Brucker on bassoon, and Camille Vauchez on horn.
L’accordéoniste: Préludes, Valses & Envols
Félicien Brut, accordion
Digital / CD
Release date: May 23
L’accordéoniste is the latest recording from accordionist Félicien Brut, who performed as part of the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony last year. The album features five cycles, each consisting of a prélude, valse, and envol. The repertoire ranges from Bach, Brahms, Albéniz, and Chopin to contemporary compositions by accordion players including Franck Angelis, Petri Makkonen, and André Astier.
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”)
Rotterdam Philharmonic / Lahav Shani
Digital / CD
Release date: May 23
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor, Lahav Shani, open this all-Mendelssohn album with Symphony No. 3, the “Scottish,” which was famously inspired by the composer’s first visit to Britain in 1829. They combine it with his overture Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage), inspired by two short poems by Goethe, and with three of Mendelssohn’s Lieder ohne Worte Op.19b, as orchestrated by Shani himself.
Adrift
Jacob Mühlrad, composer & pianist
Digital-only EP
Release date: May 16
Swedish composer Jacob Mühlrad is known for his contemporary compositions, film soundtracks, and collaborations with artists ranging from choirs and orchestras to the pop group Swedish House Mafia. Taking its name from the experience of floating between surrender and control, his new EP, Adrift, is a collection of five solo piano tracks recorded in Stockholm last year.
Catalogue
Complete Lieder & Songs on Warner Classics
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
79-CD boxed-set
Release date: May 16
Legendary baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau would have celebrated his 100th birthday this May 28. To mark the centenary, Warner Classics releases for the first time a complete collection of the lieder and songs he recorded for HMV, EMI Electrola, Teldec, and Erato between 1951 and 1992. Gerald Moore, Daniel Barenboim, Hartmut Höll, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Hertha Klust are among his many featured collaborators.
Georges Bizet Edition
16-CD boxed-set
Release date: May 23
Marking the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s death on June 3 this year, this collection features a selection of the composer’s works, performed by artists including Maria Callas, Barbara Hendricks, June Anderson, Magdalena Kožená, Jonas Kaufmann, and Simon Rattle. A bonus three-CD selection of historic recordings offers a glimpse of the ways Bizet interpretations have changed over time.
The Legend – Piano Concertos
Martha Argerich
1-LP
Release date: May 9
This vinyl release includes highlights from Martha Argerich’s most celebrated concerto recordings. She performs Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Prokofiev with Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky and the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Hubert Soudant and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Beethoven: Symphonies 3, 4, & 5
Staatskapelle Berlin / Daniel Barenboim
3-LP set
Release date: April 4
“I waited a very long time to record the Beethoven symphonies,” said Daniel Barenboim when this cycle was first released in 2000. “I waited for the music to mature in me – or me in it – and to find an orchestra that not only did what I asked it to do, but which really felt every detail in the music exactly as I did at the moment we were playing it. … This is the greatest joy that a conductor can have.”
Recorded for Teldec in 1999, Barenoim’s recording of Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies with the Staatskapelle Berlin is being released on vinyl for the first time this year. Featuring Symphonies Nos. 3, 4, and 5, this album is the first of three titles in the set.
Upcoming June 2025 releases
New titles:
- June 6: Büşra Kayıkçı – Weaving (Digital EP)
- June 6 (TBC): Luka Ispir – Leo Ispir (Foundation Gautier Capuçon 2024)
Catalogue:
- June 6: Carlo Maria Giulini – Complete Studio Recordings on Warner Classics – The Remastered Edition (60 CDs)
- June 27: Sir Thomas Beecham – Complete Stereo Recordings on Warner Classics (35 CDs)
Upcoming U.S. performances by Warner Classics & Erato artists
- May 1, 2, 3: Conrad Tao
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, TX - May 1, 2, 3; George Li
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA - May 3, 8: Lawrence Brownlee
Metropolitan Opera, New York, NY - May 4: Rufus Wainwright
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA - May 10: Nemanja Radulović
LACO, Alex Theatre, Los Angeles, CA - May 10, 11: Nemanja Radulović
LACO, The Wallis, Los Angeles, CA - May 16, 17, 18: Bertrand Chamayou
Orchestra Hall Detroit, Detroit, MI - May 17, 18: George Li
Des Moines Civic Center, Des Moines, IA - May 28: Gautier Capuçon
Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - May 30, 31: Augustin Hadelich
Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver, CO - May 30, 31: Nemanja Radulović
Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
Associated labels: RCO Live
Gustav Mahler: Complete Symphonies – The Chief Conductors Edition
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Digital / 15-CD boxed-set
Release date: May 2
The RCO Live label releases Gustav Mahler – The Chief Conductor Edition, presenting Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Mariss Jansons, and Daniele Gatti in live radio recordings with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of all Mahler’s symphonies, including Das Lied von der Erdeand Deryck Cooke’s realization of the Tenth Symphony. Most of these recordings are appearing on CD for the first time, and the Third and Fourth Symphonies are presented in new remasters.
Associated labels: EuroArts
Gaming X Symphony – Legends and Quests in Concert
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Bluray / CD
Release date: May 23
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Danish National Concert Choir perform music from popular video games including Halo, World of Warcraft, and League of Legends, with soloists Eivør, Isabel Schwartzbach, and Adam Riis.
Morricone conducts Morricone
Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Ennio Morricone
Digital / CD
Release date: May 30
Now available for the first time on CD and for digital streaming, this recording of Ennio Morricone’s 2004 concert with the Munich Radio Orchestra (Münchner Rundfunkorchester) is one of the few on which he conducts his own music. The program offers a representative collection of his most famous film music, with excerpts from his scores for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dynamite, Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, The Untouchables, and many more.
Recent Warner Classics signing
Lyyra: Someday We’ll All Be Free
Lyyra
Digital single
Release date: April 18
Warner Classics has signed an exclusive agreement with Lyyra, the new all-women’s vocal ensemble that is already becoming known for its “exceptional versatility and skill” (BBC Radio 3). The first two recordings under this new partnership are digital singles of Vienna Teng’s evocative song The Hymn of Acxiom, released on March 7 to celebrate International Women’s Day, and of Donny Hathaway’s Someday We’ll All Be Free, in Isaiah Carter’s arrangement, on April 18.
Lyyra embarks on a U.S. tour this month, with dates in Terre Haute, IN (April 8); Riverside, IL (April 10); Chicago, IL (April 11); Kalamazoo, MI (April 12); New Providence, NJ (April 25); and Albuquerque, NM (April 27).