Einar Englund

Einar Englund was Finland's most prominent symphonist of the generation after Sibelius. He wrote music in many genres, including film music, and was also active as a jazz musician. Sven Einar Englund was born on June 17, 1916, in Ljugarn, on the Swedish island of Gotland. The family moved to Finland when he was very young, first to Oulu in the far north and then to Helsinki. Englund began studying at the Helsinki Conservatory (now the Sibelius Academy) when he was 17, taking classes in both piano and composition. The dean of the school's composition faculty, Jean Sibelius, recommended Englund for a scholarship to study at the Tanglewood Festival in Massachusetts with Aaron Copland; he also played jazz with a young Leonard Bernstein on this trip. Englund scored a breakthrough in 1941 with his Piano Quintet, but his growing career was interrupted by war; he served on the front lines during Finland's Winter War and Continuation War against the Soviet Union, suffering a hand injury. His ability to play the piano was damaged, but he recovered sufficiently to perform as a jazz pianist in the 1940s and '50s. Jazz became one influence on his music; others included Bartók, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich. For some years, he was active as the music critic of the daily newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet. The experience of war was reflected in much of Englund's music, most directly in the Symphony No. 1 ("War Symphony") of 1946. He followed that work with the Symphony No. 2 ("Blackbird") in 1948 but then abandoned symphonic composition for some years, disillusioned by the dominance of the 12-tone procedure. He continued to write chamber music, however, and also composed some 20 film scores; from one of these, The White Reindeer, he extracted a suite for orchestra. Englund returned in 1971 with the Symphony No. 3 ("Barbarossa") and went on to write four more symphonies, the last in 1988. He composed two piano concertos as well as solo concertos for cello, flute, violin, and clarinet, and, in 1981, a Concerto for 12 cellos. More than 40 of Englund's works are represented on recordings. Englund died in Visby, on Gotland island, on June 27, 1999.
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