Too much vibrato

I continue to work my way through John Eliot Gardiner's box set of Bach Cantatas. After listening to nearly half the CD's, I am afraid I have to express some negative sentiments.

Gardiner is well known for insisting that Bach be played at a fast tempo. Michael O'Donnell, in his review of Gardiner's book Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, describes Mr Gardiner's philosophy as follows:

It is a sin to "plod" in Bach: The tempo must be bright and fast, and the music "has to dance." Mr. Gardiner quotes a fleeting but tantalizing line from Bach's obituary suggesting that the composer himself shared this view: "Of the tempo, which he generally took very lively, he was uncommonly sure."

Unfortunately, a fast tempo does not pair well with the male soloists in these performances, many of whom employ a very broad vibrato. If the period of the vibrato is longer than the duration of an individual note, then often the voice does not reach the pure pitch of one note before it transitions to the next note. As a result, the male parts are often a terrible, wobbly muddle.

Frederick K. Gable describes the problem succinctly:

[D]isagreements concerning vibrato actually come down to questions of degree, and this is true especially in respect to vocal vibrato. How much fluctuation from a precise pitch or at what speed, and just how much deviation from regularity can be tolerated without vibrato becoming something else, or simply turning into defective tone production? ... How far can a "vibrato" deviate before becoming merely unsteady singing? [emphasis added]

Gable then summarizes the verdict of musicologist Greta Moens-Haenen in her book Das Vibrato in der Musik des Barock:

[A] "natural" vocal vibrato possibly existed, but was very narrow and unobtrusive.

Would that the vibrato of the various male soloists in these performances had been less obtrusive! The ostentatious vocal technique employed is far better suited to, say, a Verdi opera than a Bach cantata. It almost seems as if the soloists are guilty of the sin of vanity, unwilling to subordinate their vocal pyrotechnics to the greater good of the piece as a whole. One cannot help but wonder if male soloists chosen from a boys’ choir, with voices perhaps less technically skilled, but purer and lacking the broad vibrato, would do a better job.

I do not find the same problem with the female soloists or with the musicians, who sing and play their parts with little vibrato. See here for my rapturous appraisal of the aria duetto from Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn from the Gardiner CD's.