For years now we have been hearing dire warnings that recordings - at least the kind you can hold in your hand and wrap up as gifts - will become extinct at any moment. And it is certainly true that the major classical labels are mere shadows of their former selves. But with smaller, independent labels and, increasingly, performing institutions themselves picking up the slack, CDs and DVDs continue to pour in, many of them of the highest quality. So the classical music critics of The New York Times had little difficulty in once again filling out a list of 25 records, as fine a lot as in many a boom year. Here are the choices. JAMES R. OESTREICH

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BRITTEN: 'WINTER WORDS,' OTHER SONGS Nicholas Phan, tenor; Myra Huang, pianist (Avie AV 2238; CD; $15.99). 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. ANTHONY TOMMASINI