Herman "Erik" Nordgren (13 February 1913 – 6 March 1992) was a Swedish composer, arranger and bandleader.

Erik Nordgren
Birth nameHerman Nordgren
Born(1913-02-13)13 February 1913
Sireköpinge, Malmöhus County, Sweden
Died6 March 1992(1992-03-06) (aged 79)
Västerhaninge, Sweden
GenresFilm score
Occupation(s)Composer, arranger, bandleader

Biography

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Erik Nordgren was born in Sireköpinge, Malmöhus County, and grew up in the Skåne countryside. In 1941 he graduated from College of Music in Stockholm. As a musician, he played viola . Between 1945 and 1973 he wrote music for more than 60 Swedish films, including 18 of the Ingmar Bergman's most famous films,[1] such as The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Virgin Spring, and Jan Troell s Pause in the marshland , Here's Your Life and The Emigrants ; the last film work in 1971. In addition, he collaborated with directors Alf Sjöberg, Hasse Ekman, Gustaf Molander, Alf Kjellin and Lars-Erik Stewart. He was music director at the Swedish Film Industry, 1953-1967, and then 1967-1977 he served as orchestra director at the SR. In addition he wrote three string quartets, chamber symphony (1944), Concerto for clarinet (1950), Concerto for Bassoon (1960) and Music for orchestra. From the 1960s, he composed electronic music, something that was not so well known to most people. [2]

For the music to Wild Strawberries he won a special award from the magazine Folket i Bild, as well as an award of Swedish film community in 1957.[3] He died in Västerhaninge.

Works

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Discography

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  • The Bergman Suites, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marco Polo, 1996

Writing

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References

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  1. ^ "Ingmar Bergman-stiftelsen, musik till Bergmans filmer". Archived from the original on 18 April 2013.
  2. ^ Swedish Radio's archives in 2009, "The Forgotten electronic musician - Erik Nordgren" Part 1[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Erik Nordgren". Swedish Film Database. 13 February 1913.
  4. ^ "Jönsson's essay and scholarship". Stockholm University. 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013.
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