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Cello magic from Abel Selaocoe

Tom Service meets the boundary pushing South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, plus the perfect classical soundtrack to start the weekend!

Tom Service with guests, stories and the perfect classical soundtrack for the weekend!

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is one of the world's most inventive and irrepressibly joyful musicians. Abel joins Tom to play live and talk about his new album and upcoming performance at the Edinburgh International Festival, as well as how he tries to tell African stories with his cello and how it felt making his Glastonbury debut this summer.

Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir is known for creating elemental musical soundworlds, and the conductor who is often responsible for bringing her music to life in the orchestra is Eva Ollikainen. Ahead of Eva conducting Anna's new cello concerto at the Proms this week, the two musicians talk to Tom about collaboration, sound and their special musical bond.

And ever wondered why us humans have rhythm? The answer may well be found in the African rainforests, as astonishing new research shows that chimpanzees have also shown to use rhythmic patterns. Primatologist Cat Hobaiter talks to us about chimps, drumming and why rhythm is in us all.

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3 hours

Music Played

  • Richard Rodney Bennett

    Summer Music: III. Games

    Orchestra: ѿý Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra: ѿý Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Chandos.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Violin Concerto in E, RV 267a "per Anna Maria" - II. Andante

    Performer: Théotime Langlois de Swarte. Orchestra: Le Consort.
    • Vivaldi: Concerti per una vita.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 22.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Piano Concerto no.2 Op.22 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Bertrand Chamayou. Orchestra: Orchestre national de France. Conductor: Emmanuel Krivine.
    • ERATO.
  • Manuel de Falla

    Cuatro piezas españolas - No 4, Andaluza

    Performer: Avi Avital. Ensemble: Between Worlds.
    • IBERIA - EP.
    • DG.
    • 1.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no.39 in E flat K.543 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt.
    • Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41.
    • BR-Klassik.
    • 4.
  • William Byrd

    Ne Irascaris, Domine

    Choir: VOCES8. Conductor: Barnaby Smith.
    • After Silence.
    • VOCES8 Records.
    • 4.
  • Carl Orff

    Street Song (Schulwerk)

    Composer: Gunild Keetman. Ensemble: Unnamed Ensemble. Conductor: Carl Orff.
    • Musica Poetica – Orff Schulwerk.
    • RCA.
    • 14.
  • Louise Farrenc

    Overture in E flat major Op.24

    Orchestra: Insula Orchestra. Conductor: Laurence Equilbey.
    • Erato.
  • Domenico Scarlatti

    Sonata in A major Kk.208

    Performer: Yevgeny Sudbin.
    • Scarlatti: 18 Sonatas.
    • BIS.
    • 2.
  • George Enescu

    Aria and scherzino for violin and string orchestra

    Performer: Charlie Siem. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Oleg Caetani.
    • Signum.
  • Jocelyn Pook

    How sweet the moonlight (The Merchant of Venice)

    Singer: Andreas Scholl. Performer: Siobhán Armstrong. Performer: Elizabeth Kenny. Ensemble: Baroque String Quartet.
    • Decca.
  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 - 3rd mvt Allegretto grazioso

    Orchestra: Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jakub Hrůša.
    • Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major - Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 in G Major.
    • Naxos Music UK Ltd.
    • 03.
  • Abel Selaocoe

    Four Spirits

    Performer: Abel Selaocoe. Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Warner.
  • Joseph Marie Clément Dall'Abaco

    Capriccio no.3/Mmoloki Waka

    Composer: Abel Selaocoe. Performer: Abel Selaocoe.
  • Abel Selaocoe

    Improvisation/Tshepo

    Performer: Abel Selaocoe.
  • Robert Schumann

    Concertstück, Op. 86

    Performer: Martin Owen. Performer: Christopher Parkes. Performer: Alec Frank-Gemmill. Performer: Sarah Willis. Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Chandos.
  • Frédéric Chopin

    Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57

    Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • Chopin: Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 1.
  • Reinhold Moritzevich Glière

    Harp Concerto in E flat Major Op.74 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Xavier de Maistre. Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Conductor: Nathalie Stutzmann.
    • SONY.
  • Paul McCartney

    Yesterday

    Performer: Marco Ramelli. Music Arranger: Toru Takemitsu.
    • Nimbus.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan" - 5th mvt Dall'Inferno

    Orchestra: Les Siècles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.
    • Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan" (Hamburg-Weimar 1893-94 Version).
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 105.
  • George Gershwin

    Variations on I got rhythm

    Performer: Lincoln Mayorga. Ensemble: Harmonie Ensemble New York. Conductor: Steven Richman.
    • Gershwin by Grofe: Harmonie Ensemble, New York.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 1.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Mass in C Major, Hob. XXII:5 "Missa Cellensis": XIII.Et resurrexit

    Performer: Johanna Winkel. Performer: Benjamin Bruns. Conductor: Justin Doyle. Orchestra: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin. Choir: RIAS Chamber Choir.
    • Haydn: Missa Cellensis, Hob. XXII:5.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 113.
  • Albany Symphony Orchestra, David Alan Miller & Tessa Lark

    Sky, Concerto for Violin: III. Spirited

    • Sky.
    • Albany Records.
    • 3.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Organ Trio super "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend", BWV 655

    Music Arranger: Sir Andrew Davis. Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.
    • King of Kings: Bach Orchestral Transcriptions.
    • Chandos.
    • 113.
  • Anna Thorvaldsdottir

    AION I. Morphosis

    Conductor: Eva Ollikainen. Orchestra: Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
    • ARCHORA / AIŌN.
    • Sono Luminus.
    • 201.
  • Anna Thorvaldsdottir

    ARCHORA

    Conductor: Eva Ollikainen. Orchestra: Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
    • ARCHORA / AIŌN.
    • Sono Luminus.
    • 101.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op.68 'Pastorale' - 5th mvt Allegretto

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Leonidas Kavakos. Performer: Emanuel Ax.
    • Sony.
  • Arvo Pärt

    O Weisheit (7 Advent Antiphons)

    Choir: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Director: Stephen Cleobury.
    • A Year at King's: Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 1.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    The Shrovetide Fair; The Crowds - from Petrushka Scene 1

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • LSO.

Broadcast

  • Sat 9 Aug 2025 09:00