Mendelssohn's Ave Maria has been arranged for cello octet by Richard Birchall, a verstaile cellist, composer, arranger, and lyricist. As a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra he performs regularly in the great concert halls of the world. Mr. Birchall is also a founding member of Cellophony Cello Octet, an ensemble of eight cellists that have performed throughout the UK, Europe, and Asia. He has composed music for Cellophony, other ensembles, and individual artists.

The scoring of Mendelssohn's beautiful Ave Maria, for two distinct four-part choirs, gives it excellent scope for redistribution across eight cellos; this arrangement at times preserves the distinct split across two halves of the group (although the groupings themselves vary), and at times blends the music into a full eight-part harmony. Mendelssohn's melodic genius and effortless harmonic manipulation are evident in abundance, and he ventures into a Bachian counterpoint in the middle section, where a plainsong chant is balanced firstly with a moto perpetuo bassline and subsequently with a grand fugal development. The piece ends with an ornamented return to the spaciousness of the opening, united by the thread of the solo tenor voice, here allotted to cello No. 3.

Instantly print this exclusive arrangement of Mendelssohn's Ave Maria for cello octet by Richard Birchall and Cellophony!