Music for Strings

Music for Strings

by Peter Billam

2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos

Score

© Peter J Billam, 2015

This score is offered under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

licence; seecreativecommons.org

This edition 25 February 2018.

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Music for Strings

Music for Stringsis written for six players, but performances with twelve or more playersare also intended.

It shares the 2+2+2 sextet instrumentation of my transcription of Bach’s Ricercare a 6, ofBrahms’ Sextets Op.18 and Op.36, of Dvorjak’s Op.48, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’ 1876Sextet in A, Schoenberg’s chamber version ofVerklaerte Nacht, and of Korngold’s Op.10sextet. It’s also not too far from the chamber-septet version of John Adams’ShakerLoops, which adds a bass and uses three violins and one viola, rather than two and two.

I 144 - 152 cro/min , approximately. 4min 50sec

More contrapuntal in character.

II 125 - 135 cro/min , approximately. 4min 25sec

The trills join up as smoothly as possible with the next trill, and the glissandi at the endshould join up from instrument to instrument as smoothly as possible. The glissandishould all move evenly from start-point to end-point, so that glissando-chords (eg: bar30...) remainin-tune chords even as they slide; the pizzicati in general should be playedstrongly. In the seething passages in 16th-notes, the bowing is at your discretion; Ithought perhaps the violins could bow every note up-down-up-down, while the violascould slur them in pairs and the cellos slur them in fours; but when it’s just the two violas(eg: bars 1... or 119...) then preferably they should bow every note (else they rev eal thebeat, which is not otherwise revealed). Thecrescendo in the last two bars should go up toabsolutely as loud as possible, using as many bow-changes as necessary.

III 60 cro/min , approximately 5min 15sec

Likewise, the crescendo in the bar 5 should go up to absolutely as loud as possible, usingas many bow-changes as necessary, and thepesanteshould be semprefff.

Peter J Billam

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Music for Strings1Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 1st mvt

(c) 2015 Peter J Billam

mf

mf

mf

5

pizz . . .

arco sempre

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2 Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 1st mvt


10

arco . . .

42

42

42

42

42

42

15

74

74

74

74

74

74

128

128

128

128

128

128

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3Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 1st mvt


20solo . . .

pizz . . .

arco sempre . . .

arco sempre . . .

pizz . . .

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25

68

68

68

68

68

68

128

128

128

128

128

128

68

68

68

68

68

68

128

128

128

128

128

128

30

68

68

68

68

68

68

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128

128

128

128

128

128

68

68

68

68

68

68

128

128

128

128

128

128

68

68

68

68

68

68

35

128

128

128

128

128

128

68

68

68

68

68

68

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128

128

128

128

128

128

68

68

68

68

68

68

128

128

128

128

128

128

40

68

68

68

68

68

68

128

128

128

128

128

128

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diminuendo . . .

diminuendo . . .

diminuendo . . .

45

arco . . .

arco . . .

50

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55

74

74

74

74

74

74

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60

42

42

42

42

pizz . . .42

42

32

32

32

32

32

32( arco sempre . . . )

65

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70

75

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80

pizz . . .

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85

42

42

42

42

42

42

90

74

74

74

74

74

74

128

128

128

128

128

128

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95

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arco sempre . . .

pizz . . .

arco sempre . . .

pizz . . .

100

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105

arco . . .

arco . . .

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110

115

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I I17Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 2nd mvt


mf pizz , sul G , glissando

p

p

p

mf pizz , glissando

5

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18 Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 2nd mvt


pizz , sul G , glissando

pizz , glissando

10

poco a poco cresc . . .



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19Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 2nd mvt


f pizz . . .

f

15

arco sempre

arco sempre

pizz . . .

pizz

arco

pizz . . . 20

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glissando . . . simile . . .

arco . . . glissando . . .

25

simile . . .


glissandosempre pizz,

forte, sul G

pizz

glissando . . .

pizz, glissando

arco

30

glissando . . .

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sul D

glissando . . .


ff glissandopizz,

pizz, glissando

glissando . . .arco . . .

arco . . .

35

glissando

ppp cresc . . .

ppp cresc . . .

arco sempre

pizz . . .

arco sempre

pizz . . .

pizz . . .

ff dim . . .ppp

ff dim . . . ppp

nicht schleppen

mp

mp

mp

pizz . . .

40

arco . .

arco . . .

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arco . . .

45

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arco sempre . . .

arco sempre . . .

f

glissando . . .

50

glissando . . .

arco . . .

arco

55

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pizz , glissando

pizz , glissando

arco . . .

pizz . . .

arco . . .pizz . . .

arco . . .

pizz . . .

60

f

pizz . . .

arco . . .

arco . . .

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arco . . .

pizz . . .

pizz . . .

pizz . . .

65

arco . . .

arco . . .

tr

dim

cresc

dim

tr

cresc

dim

cresc

tr

tr

cresc

dim

pizz . . .

pizz . . .

arco . . .

70

pizz . . .

arco . . .

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pizz . .

f

arco . . .

arco . . .

arco . . .

pizz . . .

75

pizz . . .

pizz . . .

arco . . .

arco . . .

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pizz . . .

dim . . .

dim . . .

dim . . .

pizz . . .

80

pizz . . .

pizz . . .

arco . . .

arco . . .

85

arco sempre . . .

pizz . . .

tr tr

tr tr

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tr tr

tr tr

arco . . .

pizz . . . 90

tr tr

tr tr

tr tr tr

tr tr tr tr

tr tr tr tr

tr tr tr tr

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95

tr tr tr tr

tr tr tr tr

tr tr

tr tr

100

pizz sempre

pizz . . .

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pizz . .

pizz . . .

105 f

pizz sempre

arco

pizz . . .

tr tr tr tr

tr tr tr tr

tr tr

tr tr

tr tr

tr tr

110

tr tr

tr tr

tr tr tr

tr tr

tr tr

tr tr

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arco . . .

arco . . .

tr tr

tr tr

pizz sempre

115pizz . . .

pizz . . .

tr

tr tr

arco . .

tr tr

tr tr

tr tr tr tr

tr tr tr tr

f arco . . .

tr tr

tr tr

f

f arco . . .

p


p

p

pizz , glissando

p

120

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125

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pizz , glissando

arco . . .

130

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135

glissando . . .

glissando . . .

glissando . . .

pp

arco . . .

glissando . . .

ffcresc . . .

glissando . . .

cresc . . .

ppp

ppp

140

fff

ritardando . . .

cresc . . .fffppp

ritardando . .cresc . . .fffppp

cresc . . . fff

cresc . . . fff

nientedim . . .

dim . . . niente

nientedim . .

nientedim . .

dim . . . niente

dim . . . niente

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I I I35Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 3rd mvt


lento

pp semplice, legato

pp

134

134

134

134

134

134

104

104

104

104

104

104

134

134

134

134

134

134

5nientedim . . .

crescendo molto . . .

cresc . . .niente

niente cresc . . .

fff pesante

64

64

dim . . .fff

64fff pesante

64

64fff pesante

64

10

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36 Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 3rd mvt


dim . . .

dim . . .

arco pizz

dim . . .

pizz

pp74pp

74

74pp

74pp

74

74

15

dim . . .

dim . . .

dim . . .

dim . . .

arco . . .

fff pesante

64

64

dim . . .fff

64fff pesante

64

64fff pesante

64

fff pesante

20

pizz

pizz

25

dim . . .

dim . . .

dim . . .

arco

dim . . .

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37Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 3rd mvt


74pp

74

74pp

74

74

74

30

pp semplice, legato

semplice, legato

134

134

134

134

134

134

104

104

104

104

104

104

134

134

134

134

134

134

nientedim . . .

crescendo molto . . .

cresc . . .niente

senza crescendo subito

niente dim . . . niente cresc molto . . .

arco

fff pesante64

64

dim . . .fff fff

64fff pesante

64

64fff pesante

64

35

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38 Peter Billam, Music for Strings, 3rd mvt


pizz

pizz

40

dim . . .

dim . . .

dim . . .arco

dim . . .

74pp

74

74pp

74

74pp

74

84

84

84

84

84

84

74

74

74

74

74

74

84

84

84

dim . . . niente

84

nientedim . . .

84

dim . . . niente

84

dim . . . niente

dim . . . niente

pizz p

pizz p

pizz p

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ccBY

Peter Billam was born in London in 1948, studied piano, and lived in Switzerland from 1973 to1983, where he studied composition, classical guitar, flute and voice, worked as Musical Directorof the Théâtre Populaire Romand, and as recording engineer, record producer and computerprogrammer. He moved to Tasmania in 1983, and lectured in composition at the Conservatorium.He foundedwww.pjb.com.au, becoming the first composer to sell scores on-line, taking scoresfrom Composer to Performer in one immediate step.Www.pjb.com.auoffers a new approach tomusic publishing. These pieces arewritten to be read, made to be played !

Compositions at www.pjb.com.auinclude:Five Short Pieces, guitar, 1979;Divisions on an ItalianGround, flute and guitar, 1980;De ProfundisandNacht, on poems by Lama Anagarika Govinda, voice andpiano, 1980;Fünf Bagatellen, piano, 1980;Five Rounds, choir, 1986; Go Forth and Multiply, choir, 1986;Three Violin Duets, 1987; Fable, for piano, 1987;To Erich Jantsch, SAATTB recorders, 1988;A Suite ofCurves, trombone (or horn) and piano, 1990;Two Recorder Duets, alto recorders, or other melodyinstruments, 1991;Tr ombone Quintet, trombone, flute, piano, bass, and percussion, 1994;Three Songs, onpoems by Jack Kerouac, Vikram Seth and Dylan Thomas, voice and piano (only the first and third of these areavailable), 1994; Piano Study, piano, 1994;Four Dances, various ensembles including recorder quartet,string quartet, 1995;The Poet in the Clouds, on a poem by S. T. Coleridge,SATB choir, 1995;Tr es Casidasdel Diván del Tamarit, on poems by Federico García Lorca, voice and piano, 1997;Three Suites, for thesolo line, piano, and piano and a solo line, 2000;Die Zeiten, on poems by Kästner, Bachman and Jünger,choir (only the second and third of these are available), 2000;Three Duetsfor flutes, 2001;For Four Handsforpiano four hands, 2002;Three Preludesfor piano, 2003;Second Solo Suitefor flute, violin, viola or cello,2003;Guitar Duetfor two guitars, 2006;We Who Mournfor choir, 2007; Trio With Guitar for guitar andtwo clarinets or two recorders or two violas, 2008;Canonsfor two- and four-hand piano, 2009;Flute Trio,2012; Twenty Studiesfor piano, 2013-14;Music for Stringsand Two Encores for Stringsfor 2vln, 2vla,2vlc, 2015;Album for Choir, 2015;Eight Pieces for Guitar, 2017.

Arrangements include: By J. S. Bach:Trio BWV 655, piano and flute;Vor deinen Thron BWV 668,piano;Fugue in F minor BWV 689, SATB recorders;Four Duets BWV 802-5, keyboard;Six Preludes andFuguesfrom Book I, keyboard;Flute Sonata BWV 1031in G major for alto recorder and keyboard;FluteSonata BWV 1032completed by Peter Billam for flute and keyboard, also in C major for alto recorder, andin G major for descant;Ricercare a 3 of the Musikalisches Opferfor keyboard;Ricercare a 6, for sSATBGrecorders, or strings, or two keyboards; andFuga Canonica; from theArt of Fugue: Contrapuncti 1, 4 and9for keyboard, andContrapunctus 14as completed by D. F. Tovey, for keyboard, or for SATB recorders, orfor strings;Passacaglia and Fugue in cfor piano four hands;Chorales with Descantfor melody instrumentand piano;Cello Suites I, II and III for flute or alto recorder, Forty Chorales for piano,Der Geist hilftforSATB-SATB recorders. By Brahms:Fugue in Ab minor for organ, for SATB recorders and gamba, in Aminor; Choralvorspiele for organplus settings by Isaac, Bach, Praetorius, recorders.John Carr, Divisionson an Italian Ground, flute or recorder and guitar. Franz Liszt,Late piano pieces, G.F. Händel:ConcertoGrosso in A minorop 6 no 4, harpsichord and recorders;Recorder Sonata in Bbno 5, in G for tenorrecorder and keyboard. ClaudioMonteverdi, Ecco Mormorar l’Onde, SSATB recorders. ArnoldSchoenberg:Verklärte Nacht for piano. Franz Schubert:Four Songs, voice and guitar;Dances, recordersand guitar, Dances, piano 4 hands.Scriabin,Two Preludes op.67; Five Preludes op.74, piano. Telemann,Twelve Flute Fantasias, recorder. Wilbye, Draw on sweet Night, SSATTB recorders, and for flute choir.Twelve Italian SongsandSeven English Songs, voice and guitar;Folk Guitar Solos; Fourteen Folk DanceTunes, recorder and guitar;Bushband Dances, violin, accordeon and banjo;Easy Classical Pieces, Bbtrumpet and piano;Famous Beginnings, for piano.

These pieces are under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0licence. Very briefly:

• You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.

• You may transform and build upon the material for any purpose.

• You must give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made.

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Music for Strings