A Singer’s Notes by Keith Kibler 53: Lully’s Armide at Glimmerglass
Jack Rennie as Love with Peggy Kriha Dye as Armide and Curtis Sullivan as Hatred in The Glimmerglass Festival/Opera Atelier production of Armide. Photo Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival.
Marshall Pynkoski’s direction of Lully’s Armide at Glimmerglass was a beautiful and unpretentious thing. It was also limited by the demands of a repertory opera house. The production trod a middle ground stylistically, using by necessity young conservatory-trained singers, the best that we have. This made for heavy going in the choral sections. The orchestral playing as well began with some detail and point, but changed slowly into a kind of general approximation of what standard Baroque practice is thought to be. Orchestral texture in this style is of the greatest importance, especially the continuo group. I would be looking for much more variety and also more stillness where the silences carry the words forward.

