Amoureuse: Sacred and Profane Arias

Hybrid/SACD - Playable on all compact disc players.

"Rosamund Illing - we do appreciate her full and brilliant tone - sings them with sincerity. Her voice shows many colours, her diction is refined ... her charm is evident ... Bonynge weaves a voluptuous accompaniment around the singer ... 4 Diapasons"
(Michel Parouty, Diapason - France)

"For a broader picture of Massenet's creativity this disc has a lot to offer and Rosamund Illing sings everything admirably"
(MusicWeb June 2007)

As a CD, Amoureuse has been included in the annual 'Best CDs and DVDs yearbook' from Gramophone since 2004.

Now remastered and remixed for SACD surround sound from the original master tapes, Melba's new Amoureuse is beautifully packaged with a new cover and label artwork by Ken Cato together with a newly revised full-colour booklet containing numerous additional illustrations.
On this superb disc of rare Massenet songs you will enjoy the beautiful voice of Rosamund Illing, one of Australia's most distinguished and versatile operatic artists, and a fine interpreter of the French lyric repertoire. She is joined by the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge.

"Massenet was the musical historian of the female soul ... his music is vibrant with sensations and embraces which we wish would last forever ..."
Claude Debussy

"A celebration of the feminine spirit ... 74 minutes of music by an acknowledged master of writing for voice and theatre, while finding much, perhaps most, of it simultaneously unfamiliar and delicious. Vandamme's production of this disc follows her organisation's excellent video documentary on Massenet's life and music."
Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 April 2000 (on the original CD)