When she first made her name, some 15 years ago, Amanda Roocroft was acclaimed for the loveliness of her lyric soprano voice. Her career quickly went international, and all seemed set. Then she had a difficult year personally, including a debilitating illness, and took some time off. Everyone held their breath.

When she came back, the voice was not quite the same - a touch of bloom was missing, at least at the top - and something else had also changed. Whereas the earlier Roocroft had sounded gorgeous but a trifle bland, the new Roocroft was a more complex and interesting artist, who had discovered new depths in her material. The blandness had gone.

Though there were moments in this programme - accompanied by Iain Burnside with discretion and imagination - when Roocroft's higher register took on a slightly wild aspect, especially in her opening Strauss set (the Six Lieder Op 37), she skilfully made each item into a unique statement. Physically, too, she found meaningful gestures to back up her vocal interpretation without resorting to an overly demonstrative operatic manner.

Debussy's Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire matched her vocal colours, with their hint of delicate sensuality, particularly well, and despite the lack of any obvious narrative within them Roocroft defined their subtle moods and held the attention easily. In a mixed Tchaikovsky group she explored varieties of desperation, painting a wintry inner landscape in Again, as Before, I Am Alone, and creating a portrait of barely repressed passion in Why?

Her final set, Samuel Barber's rarely performed Despite and Still, was written for the African-American soprano Leontyne Price and, as with her predecessor, Roocroft's rich tone flowed easily. She missed nothing in conveying the cycle's finely balanced air of emotional ambivalence and disenchantment.