NYTimes Classical records of the year
From New York Times, November 22 2011
Britten’s song cycle “Winter Words” is inexplicably neglected. These bleakly beautiful, sometimes satirical and stunning settings of eight Thomas Hardy poems prove ideal for Nicholas Phan, the sweet-voiced young tenor, sensitively accompanied by Myra Huang. The performers are equally satisfying in Britten’s “Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo” and several folk song arrangements.