Wirén: Serenade, Op.11 (1937)

Preludium:- Allegro molto
Andante espressivo
Scherzo:- Allegro vivace
Marcia:- Tempo di marcia, molto ritmico

From the last three decades of the nineteenth century there evolved a particular sound world which we like to think of as “Scandinavian” (or, more properly, Northern European): this might seem to have originated in works such as Grieg’s Holberg Suite – for strings – but more likely in a series of shorter pieces from the 1870s by another influential Norwegian, Johan Svendsen, or even in the string serenades of Tchaikovsky and Dvořák. Characterised by a certain lushness – achieved by dividing the sections of the string orchestra into multiple parts – we find successive composers capitalising on the considerable range of textures available from stringed instruments alone; Carl Nielsen’s Little Suite (Op.1), Sibelius’s Romance in C, and his Rakastava Suite readily come to mind, but such sounds inevitably found their way into both composers’ music for full orchestra as well – and even crossed the North Sea to Vaughan Williams (notably in his Tallis Fantasia), and thereby to his English followers. 

The Swedish composer Dag Wirén would surely have been aware of this heritage and might even have thought to continue and honour it, through composing this serenade in 1937 and, thirty years later, his Musik för stråkorkester (Op.40). However, little of the aforementioned lushness is to be found in either work – not surprisingly, given the number of decades that had since passed. But what certainly survived and persisted was an inbred resourcefulness of colour – despite his being the only one of the composers listed above (Tchaikovsky excepted) who was not himself an accomplished string player (although he did marry a fine cellist). In his Serenade we generally find a much sparer palette of sounds, underlined by unusually prominent use of pizzicato, less sheen and warmth – even in the explicitly “expressive” Andante, where obsessive pizzicato rhythms come more to the fore. That is not to say that there is an absence of a distinctive and highly personal melodic language, nor a sincerity of feeling, nor even the occasional thickening of scoring. 

It is with the final March that a rhythmic element now takes over – and here is the moment to draw attention to Wirén’s current standing: although he left us five symphonies and five completed string quartets, plus much other concert and stage music – and was also a respected conductor (if reluctantly so) – he has rather fallen into relative obscurity over the past half-century or more. However, he was previously considerably better-known than most people realised, this through the aforementioned Marcia being used as the signature tune for a BBC TV Arts programme called “Monitor”, presented by Huw Weldon in the late 1950s. Should you recognise this piece, maybe stay silent, in that it might give away a clue to your longevity. 

© Alan George
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