Stripping French choral interpretations -to listen with binoculars?

If I understood the explanations of the booklet, this disc presents the "Requiem" by Fauré in its instrumentation from 1890, played by two violins, eight violas, six cellos, two basses, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani , harp and organ.
Compared to the later symphonic version and usually chosen, the work here is gaining transparency and expressive impact lightning!
Especially as the vocal contours of Monteverdi Choir and young sopranos of Salisbury Cathedral are razor sharp.

A full choral melodies recital program, a cappella or accompanied by an Erard piano from 1874 to fruity timbre.
The accuracy and precision of the English voice is again exemplary, the slightly less pronunciation.

The only reservations that I would make, without everyone must share my opinion, concern the sound recording. What I hear seems regrettably distant, immaterial, sanitized and diffuse, making them difficult to understand words like consonants had passed through the mill.
The songs are in as virtualized, reduced to a vocal color certainly exhilarating but devoid of any realism, forcing to strain to try to taste any flavor.
Even by turning the few notches, the prospect does not seem to me credible, and the sound space remains empty.

And yet, I remember how the Philips microphones were able to capture and reproduce the relief material and sound since the 1950s!
In any case, from an artistic point of view, "Requiem" conducted by Gardiner in January 1992 merit to date in the discography of the work for its stylistically options "stripping".