dag wiren serenade for strings program notes

#DAG WIREN SERENADE FOR STRINGS PROGRAM NOTES SERIES#
#DAG WIREN SERENADE FOR STRINGS PROGRAM NOTES TV#

He pursued this approach in his third symphony (1944), where the first motif in the first movement, based on a step-wise Dorian mode progression, is transformed during the movement and then echoed in the last three movements. Wirén also developed a personal technique, first used in the third string quartet (1941–45), of gradual motivic transformation, avoiding repetition (metamorphosis technique).

Towards the mid-1940s Wirén became more serious in style, perhaps under the influence of Jean Sibelius. His musical style on return from Paris remained broadly neoclassical melodic, energetic and with high spirits.

#DAG WIREN SERENADE FOR STRINGS PROGRAM NOTES SERIES#

Wirén went on to compose five symphonies, concertos and other orchestral works, including music for the stage and film scores, as well as instrumental and chamber music, including a series of string quartets. Upon his return to Sweden, he composed his first two symphonies and his most famous work, the Serenade for Strings (1937) the spirit of this serenade may also be found in the finale of his second symphony (1939). Neoclassical pieces from Wirén's early Parisian period, including the Piano Trio (1933) and the Sinfonietta (1933–34), are melodically and rhythmically entertaining. He was reluctant to write for the voice (in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest entry, Alf Henrikson wrote the lyrics after Wirén had composed the music). He once commented that his first desire was to entertain and please, and compose listener-friendly 'modern' music.

Wirén's output, which ranges from serious to popular, is notable for its quality rather than quantity, and a number of his works were refused opus numbers or withdrawn. He retired from composing in 1970, commenting, 'One should stop in time, while one still has time to stop in time.' He also wrote the music for the Swedish entry for the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, Annorstädes vals (Absent Friend), sung by Ingvar Wixell.

#DAG WIREN SERENADE FOR STRINGS PROGRAM NOTES TV#

His TV ballet Den elaka drottningen (The Evil Queen) won the 1960 Prix Italia. He served as a member of the board of directors of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1962 to 1971.

From 1948, he spent summers on the island of Björkö, in Stockholm's archipelago. He was music critic at the 'Svenska Morgonbladet' from 1938 to 1946, and in 1947 became vice-chairman of the Society of Swedish Composers.

As well as composing, Wirén regularly played his main instrument, the piano, on Swedish Radio during the 1930s he also devoted himself to chamber music in the 1930s and 40s although he conducted in a recording of his Sinfonietta, he hated conducting. In 1937, the couple set up home permanently in Danderyd, just north of Stockholm. In 1934, Wirén moved to Stockholm with his bride, the Irish cellist, Noel Franks, whom he had met in Paris their daughter, Annika, was born in 1947. In Paris he met Igor Stravinsky (as well as his compatriot Gösta Nystroem) and was exposed to the music of Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev and the French composers of Les Six. While there, he studied composition under the Russian composer Leonid Sabaneyev, though he admitted later that his endless attendance of concerts, and not his tutoring with Sabaneyev, had the greater impact on his own work. In 1932 he won the state stipend and used the award money to continue his studies in Paris, where he lived from 1931 to 1934. Wirén studied at the Stockholm conservatory from 1926 to 1931, which gave him much exposure to music from all periods hearing Arthur Honegger's oratorio King David in 1927 was an important experience. His father had a roller blind factory, and there were various musical activities in the family home he took piano lessons, and was a student at the Karolinska school in Örebro, and played the bass drum and celesta in the town orchestra.

Dag wiren serenade for strings program notes