The story is a splendid vehicle for Véronique Gens…She is in glorious voice...Van Mechelen is ideal as his namesake, mellifluous and attentive to the text. The other singers, familiar specialists in this repertoire, are excellent, Tassis Christoyannis especially robust in the extended scene for Hate. Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet are in fine form.

Gens is in magnificent voice, singing with an imperious tonal versatility ranging from gloriously free and expansive top notes to chest notes of real power and richness, at times fearsome in their intensity...Niquet draws committed playing from Le Concert Spirituel, whose strings are especially responsive.

This may not be authentic Lully, but it serves as a post-Gluckian vehicle for Véronique Gens, at her peak as a lyric tragedienne with her eloquent declamation of the text and dramatic conception of the titular anti-heroine. Reinoud van Mechelen sings his namesake, Renaud, in exemplary style and Tassis Christoyannis is a striking Hidraot.

Hervé Niquet conducts with considerable style – it would be tempting to underline Armide’s old or new style, but Niquet finds a gracious balance, enjoying the dramatic outbursts yet relishing the orchestral effects. Most importantly, he finds a series of continuing tempi that propel the drama but don’t lurch, in an opera that could easily become disjointed or merely a series of numbers…the title role suits Véronique Gens perfectly.