In February, Mr. Gandelsman performed that Chaconne at the Helicon Foundation in New York using — for the first time — a Baroque bow.

"I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells / Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss," he recalled in Personal Helicon.

In classical legend, Hippocrene, the fountain on Mount Helicon created by Pegasus's hoof, is sacred to the Muses and inspires whoever drinks from it.