In 2008 Challenge Classics released a very popular, limited edition of The Original Recordings 1950-1960 of the legendary Dutch conductor Willem van Otterloo with The Hague Philharmonic. This eagerly anticipated new seven-CD set presents a broader perspective, and features four renowned orchestras with which he conducted and recorded, including the Royal Concertgebouw, the Vienna Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Hague Philharmonic.

Willem Van Otterloo (1907-1978) was born in Winterswijk, Gelderland, in the Netherlands. While playing as a cellist in the Utrecht Stedelijk Orkest, he won a composition prize from the Concertgebouw Orchestra for his Suite No. 3, which he presented in his 1932 conducting debut. He held posts with the Utrecht Stedelijk Orkest, before being appointed chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague (1949-1973).

Challenge Classics have also issued a disc of Van Otterloo’s compositions, performed by the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra (CC72180).