Erik Fritiof Fordell (2 July 1917 – 21 December 1981 Kokkola) was a Finnish-Swedish composer.

He was extremely prolific and managed to write 44 symphonies, numerous concertos for instruments, chamber music, cantatas and hundreds of choral and solo songs. In addition to this, he worked as a conductor, choir director, piano pedagogue and took an active part in the administration of the local music scene. He became known especially in his home region Kokkola as a colorful personality.

Erik FordelI belonged to the generation of composers that emerged in the 1950s, for whom the post-war modernist aspirations posed a difficult and often insurmountable challenge. He has more than 100 male choral works. While working as the conductor of Kokkola’s male voice choir (Gamlakarleby manskör), Fordell had to compress what he had to say into extremely simple and still preserve what he wanted to express as a composer. Unable to stray into expressive extremes, Fordell had to write concisely, clearly, simply, without compositional roundabout expressions or exaggerations. Fordell is at his best in his musical miniatures. When what has been heard seems to need special emphasis, the composer uses repetition – just like a book reader underlines what he has read. Repetition opens up musical and textual solutions for the listener and also gives the performer the opportunity to vary the interpretation.