Swedish composer Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916-1968) was a dynamic "natural" who in time rose to be Sweden's leading music debater. A vivid personality, he worked energetically in a variety of fields. He insisted on modern music having its appointed flavour in radio broadcasting and in concert programmes.
In the space of a few decades, his compositions, which frequently struck the general public as newfangled and unintelligible, have acquired the status of classics and stateful items of concert and opera repertoire.