When you ask lovers of French baroque what first fired their passion for the endlessly elegant artform that poured forth, often as pure propaganda, from the courts of some of the most autocratic monarchs in Europe, chances are they’ll cite two events: William Christie and Les Arts Florissants’ 1987 staging of Lully’s opera Atys and Tous Les Matins Du Monde, Alain Corneau’s 1991 film about the composers Jean de Saint-Colombe and Marin Marais.

A wealthy donor arranged for Atys to be recreated in 2011, a performance now captured on DVD, but Corneau’s film has often been frustratingly difficult to get hold of (it’s now, thank heavens, generally available for streaming on Amazon). A pity, as the soundtrack proved a big hit, selling more copies at the time in New York than Madonna’s Erotica, thanks to the inspired musical program and the sublime viol playing of current Limelight International Artist of the Year, Jordi Savall, whose performance won the César Award for Best Music. This sold out Carnegie Hall concert was a rare opportunity to hear that music reprised by Savall himself, still remarkably spry at 77, and a...