Eric Ericson
(1918-2013) was one of the major choral conductors of the last century.
His work was influential for many of us and the standards he set with
his own
Chamber Choir, with the
Swedish Radio Choir, along with the
men's chorus
Orphei Drängar, raised standards around the world. The many
tours with those three choirs (and the chamber choir at the College of
Music), in addition to his many recordings, were how most of us first
knew his work.
While he prepared and/or conducted most of the standard
choral/orchestral masterworks, his primary focus and love was for a
cappella music. It was always his goal with the Radio Choir, for
example, to have 80% of the repertoire the choir sang be a cappella (he
wasn't always successful with this).
As the primary teacher of conducting at the
Royal College of Music
in Stockholm he influenced generations of Swedish conductors from the
early 1950's into the 1990s (for a considerable number of those years he
was the teacher for
all choral conductors, whether music
education or church music, and for many years it was also the only place
in Sweden where one could study conducting). Later in his career he
influenced conductors from around the world through masterclasses and
conducting courses.
I've written
before
about his use of the piano in rehearsal, but we'll explore more of what
made Eric . . . well, Eric. And, of course, to ask which of his methods
and approaches will be useful to us. A number of posts as well will be
guest blogs or interviews with some of my Swedish friends who've known
Eric for many years.
A wonderful interview with him from 1997, the 50th anniversary of his Chamber Choir, can be found
here. It will tell you a lot to get started.
