When Michael and I discussed my SATB arrangement of his beautiful setting of the "Ave Maria," he wanted to preserve a semblance of the original soprano solo. When I arranged the "Ave Maria" I had in mind this working for the average church choir. I had the choir I direct at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Everett, Washington try to visualize dancing as a little child with the Blessed Virgin Mary, which I demonstrated for them by dancing a slow hesitation waltz as a little child might dance with their mother, or in this case with Mary, our mother. We decided to combine his suggestion of having one soloist sing the first verse a cappella and a second one of the opposite sex sing the second verse and the choir coming in at the "Sancta Maria" with the option of the choir singing this arrangement as it is written. To make this work for my choir, I set the meter at 3/4 time throughout and lowered the key signature from a-minor to g-minor. I have used this many times in the liturgy as a choir solo, especially during the month of May which is traditionally the month of Mary. It is also very suitable for choir and school concert venues.

I have directed several volunteer parish choirs for over 50 years. This SATB arrangement of Michael's original soprano/tenor duet from his "Requiem" I made for my church choir in 2014. I have used it as an offertory or communion meditation. It is also very useful as a teaching instrument to develop good breath control and to help maintain intonation in slow moving (Adagio) sections in choral literature.