‘Still Falls the Rain’ is the second solo recording by American tenor Nicholas Phan, whose debut Winter Words (AV2238) was internationally acclaimed.

‘Winter Words’, last year’s solo debut album by American tenor Nicholas Phan, was one of the most lauded releases of the year. Phan (pronounced pahn) follows up with Still Falls the Rain, another intelligently devised album of Britten’s songs, this time focusing on works inspired by the composer’s key collaborators including horn player Dennis Brain, harpist Osian Ellis and poet Edith Sitwell. As with Winter Words (AV2238), Phan successfully intersperses great song cycles with popular folk song arrangements.

The rarely recorded The Heart of the Matter includes the narration of Sitwell’s poems by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.