Wieland Kuijken, Jordi Savall (bass viols) Alia Vox Heritage AVSA 9885 A+B (2 CDs) *****

Saint-Colombe, an obscure 17th-century French composer of viol music, had his moment in the sun when his life and music featured in the 1991 film Tous les matins du monde. This was based on the novel of the same name by Pascal Quignard, and also elevated Saint-Colombe's pupil, Marin Marais, to new heights of public awareness and popularity. This new set of 11 of Sainte-Colombe's 67 concerts for two viols brings together recordings made in 1976 and 1992 by two of the greatest viol players of the age, Wieland Kuijken and Jordi Savall. The music ranges from spare rumination to fierce concentration, and is full of strangely unsettling effects, with Sainte-Colombe thumbing his nose at musical propriety and standard practice. In truth, there's not much in the repertoire for pairs of stringed instruments to rival it. See url.ie/6l9q