Born in Stridsberg on 15th October 1905, died in Danderyd 19th April 1986. He studied at the State Academy of Music in Stockholm, 1926-1931. Ernst Ellberg was his composition teacher and Leonid Sabaneev became his instrumentation teacher while Wirén was in Paris 1932-1934. He graduated as an organist in 1929. He was Vice Chairman of the Society of Swedish Composers 1947-1963, music reviewer for the newspaper Svenska Morgonbladet 1938-1946, and was on the Board of the Swedish Performing Rights Society 1939-1968.
Austerity is a word frequently used to characterise his style and technique. A capacity for making very small, ostensibly insignificant motifs expand, lending substance to impressive formal developments, should be understood as one of the most essential implications of his economic approach, which has also been termed metamorphosis technique. His feeling for sound and his appreciation of the subtle contours of form bear the impress of twentieth-century French modernism, but anybody taking a close look at his music is bound to realise that the Nordic tradition, above all as represented by Carl Nielsen and Sibelius, has been his guiding star. His serious, well-thought out but nonetheless naturally fluent creativity is not the whole secret of his artistic strength; he is one of the few composers who have been able to produce works which have an entertaining, divertimento-like atmosphere without seeming contrived. His naturally cheering musical sense of humour, consequently, has endeared him to an extensive audience.
Hans-Gunnar Peterson
Web: http://www.mic.stim.se