Abel Selaocoe plays Platti: Cello Sonata No. 7 in D Major, I. 84: I. Adagio

Among the baroque influences Abel Selaocoe draws from in his debut album is the Adagio from Platti’s Cello Sonata No. 7 (also known as the Sonata No. 1). Listen to his unique rendition and reimagination of this melody and more on his debut album: “The Baroque music I studied as a young musician and my inherited South African musical culture have more in common that you might expect. ... Platti is a wonderful composer I thought would work well in this marriage of Baroque and African music. This cello sonata has a freedom to it, an improvisatory quality that suits my way of playing within my native South African music or in rhythmic music in general. I’ve interpolated improvisations between the four movements of this sonata, featuring the theorbo, an improvising instrument in its native Baroque continuo tradition, and the kora, used for improvised music by the bards of the West African oral history tradition. Together we improvise our way through this wonderful sonata, fin