The following article is an overview of the career of Dutch composer, arranger and conductor Rogier van Otterloo. Many sources of information were employed, written sources as well as interviews; all source material has been listed at the bottom of the article. The article is subdivided into two main parts; a general career overview (part 3) and a part dedicated to Rogier van Otterloo's Eurovision involvement (part 4).
Een Nederlandse versie van dit artikel is ook beschikbaar op deze website via deze link.
All material below: © Bas Tukker / 2020
- Passport
- Eurovision record
- Biography
- Eurovision Song Contest
- Other artists about Rogier van Otterloo
- Eurovision involvement year by year
- Sources & links
- Website
PASSPORT
Born: December 11th, 1941, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Died: January 29th, 1988, Bilthoven (Netherlands)
Nationality: Dutch
EUROVISION RECORD
Chief of the Netherlands’ Metropole
Orchestra from 1980 until his untimely passing in 1988, Rogier van Otterloo was
the musical director of the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, held in The Hague; for
this event, he composed an attractive overture, while also conducting Maggie
MacNeal’s ‘Amsterdam’, the home country’s entry. In subsequent years, Van
Otterloo conducted four more Dutch Eurovision entries, the last one being ‘Rechtop
in de wind’ by Marcha in 1987.
BIOGRAPHY
Rogier van Otterloo grew up in
Bilthoven, Wassenaar, and Amsterdam. His mother was ballet dancer Ankie Heukers;
his father Willem van Otterloo, renowned chief conductor of the Utrechts
Stedelijk Orkest (1937-49) and later of the Residentie Orkest, alternatively
known as The Hague Philharmonic (1949-74). As a boy, Rogier was often taken along
to orchestral rehearsals by his overbearing father. When his son was six years of
age, Willem van Otterloo decided he should take violin lessons.
“I also sang in a Roman Catholic
boy choir,” as Rogier recalled later, “but I was thrown out for being too wild
and for scrambling about where I wasn’t supposed to. My parents’ house was
imbued with music through and through. From a very young age, I was taught to
play the violin, but it didn’t come lightly to me. Time and again, I suffered from
pain… first, it was my wrist which bothered me, later my arm or my shoulder.
Musically speaking, the violin wasn’t for me. I lost interest completely when I
happened to meet the drummer of the City Theatre Orchestra (in
Amsterdam – BT). Before I knew it, I found myself behind this
huge drumkit in the empty City Theatre. Hitting the drums violently, I was in
awe with the sound it produced in the hollow auditorium. From that moment on,
classical music no longer meant much to me. As my parents had just split up, my
mother’s financial situation wasn’t that easy. She wouldn’t have been able to
afford the money for a drumkit. Undeterred, I collected my drumkit bit by bit
by buying separate parts in various places, looking around everywhere – at
Waterlooplein’s scrap market, for starters. In our small house, my room was in
the basement. There, I played my ragtag drums – fortunately, the only neighbour
who could have objected to the noise, was a little hard of hearing.”
In spite of his six ultimately unsuccessful
years of trying to master the violin, Rogier never lost his love for it – “there
is no instrument more wonderful than the violin", he once said. His
classical upbringing stayed with him in later life. Looking back on his father’s
role in his youth, Rogier once stated: “For even the slightest of ailments, the
medicine always was one of Mozart’s symphonies. For me, a Mozart symphony is
the same as a cheese sandwich to somebody else. As a child, I regularly
suffered from migraine; then, my father would say, “Come with me,
son, I will help you getting rid of it soon enough” – whereupon
he put on a record of Bach’s ‘St Matthew’s Passion’. Of course, it didn’t chase
the headache away. At the same time, though, I was fascinated and, consciously
or subconsciously, these experiences became part of my outlook as a musician. Many
other music professionals lack this classical upbringing. The situation is
comparable to being taught French not from age twelve, but from your earliest
years onwards.”
In his adolescent years, Rogier fell in
love with jazz music. Without any instructions from a music teacher, he took up
playing the drums in different Dixieland bands; with the Orion Jazz Band, comprised
of youngsters from Amsterdam, he performed across the Netherlands and won the so-called
Jazz at the Castle competition in 1958. Bandleader Jan van der Woord recalled
the enthusiasm of his drummer: “Once, he took me to his basement, where there
was a drumkit as well as a gramophone with an amplifier. He said,“Now
listen… this is great music!” He then put on a Stan Kenton record and,
without hesitation, played along to the drum parts. It turned out he knew these
arrangements by heart, from start to finish! He didn’t make a single mistake.”
And, about Rogier’s antics on stage, “He regularly played a solo, stopped halfway
through, standing up to take the audience’s applause – and then he sat down
again, continuing as if it was the most natural thing in the world, never failing
to give a clear sign to the rest of us when we had to join in again.”
In 1959, Rogier joined his schoolmates
Edwin Rutten and René Holdert to form the Gold Coast Combo, focusing on
contemporary jazz rather than Dixieland. By that time, Rogier had taught
himself to play the piano. The combo made some decent money, performing at
festivals and private parties. In 1961, they were signed by record label Delta
to record an EP, ‘Swingin’ Swayers’. Being the bandleader, Rogier wrote the arrangements. “Usually, Rogier figured out the harmonies by himself," René Holdert recalls. "He was extremely
good at that. Once he had heard the melody of a given song, he sat at the
piano, working tirelessly for two days to get the harmonies right. On day
three, he adapted some elements here and there to refine the sound even
further.”
In the second half of the 1950s into
the early 1960s, in youth culture, jazz was overtaken by rock ‘n’ roll and beat
music, but Rogier would have nothing of it. Holdert recalls, “He thought it was utter
crap. Three chords, nothing more! I actually rather liked some rock songs, but to
Rogier this was anathema. In this respect he was really conservative. Of
course, compared to that type of music, jazz was somewhat elitist.” A neighbour
girl from Wassenaar, however, recalls how, in 1959, she time and again heard the
sound of Cliff Richard’s record ‘Living Doll’ from Rogier’s bedroom window;
perhaps, as an adolescent, Rogier was ashamed to own up to his interest in teenage
music.
Rogier (far
right, with cigarette) in the Gold Coast Combo – with Edwin Rutten at the drums
and René Holdert playing the double-bass; for this performance, the trio was
supported by a trumpet player (c. 1961)
After finally passing his grammar
school exams in 1962, Rogier joined his father, who did an extended summer tour
of guest performances with classical orchestras in Australia. He attended all
of his father’s rehearsals. “I was with him all the time. It was
thoroughly fascinating. Moreover, we had the opportunity to talk extensively,
which convinced me that I wanted to go to conservatory after all and become a
professional musician. After completing my military service – I played the
drums in the Royal Military Band – I enrolled in music school: theory and flute
were my main subjects, while I also took a minor in piano. My main motivation was
to learn how to arrange and compose for large light-entertainment orchestras
and big bands. Quite early on, I figured out that I was much better at keeping sight
of the big picture in an orchestra than playing an instrument myself. The sound
of an ensemble as a whole has always interested me most.”
During his days at conservatory, the
Amsterdams Muzieklyceum (1964-1966), Van Otterloo studied with experienced classical
musicians Jolle de Wit and Hans Henkemans. In his free time, he continued playing
with the Gold Coast Combo, and, later on, in the New Orleans Seven, a jazz
ensemble led by Hans IJzerdraat. In later life, Rogier did not think back fondly
of his student days, “Being the son of a famous father was problematic in
conservatory. People would say,“Look, there is another Van
Otterloo, now let’s see if he’s up to it.” I always had to do my
utmost to convince my teachers that I was good enough to follow in my father’s
footsteps.”
In fact, Rogier never obtained his
diploma; in 1966, he was expelled from conservatory. Keen to show his abilities
as a writer of music, he penned an arrangement; the next day, he proudly presented
a tape recording of it to the school’s headmaster, who, however, switched off
the tape recorder after the first ten bars… and refused to listen any further. The
young student was livid – and so was the headmaster. “I was kicked out," Van Otterloo explained years later. "Ah, all kinds of difficulties! I wanted to learn how to write an arrangement,
not just sit there and analyse Mozart’s instrumentations. It was inevitable
that the bomb would burst at some point anyway.”
Undeterred, Rogier joined Lurelei,
a cabaret group known for their socio-critical lyrics. Most notably, ‘Arme Ouwe’,
a song poking fun of Queen Juliana, caused quite some upheaval in conservative circles.
One of the group’s members, Gerard Cox, has vivid memories of working with 24-year-old Rogier. “At that time, he was kind of an odd, student-like guy. The
way he articulated – so incredibly formal! But everything he composed was phenomenal.
(…) He wrote the music to ‘Arme Ouwe’, and it was great. Technically speaking,
he was not a good pianist, but he played the piano as if it were a complete
orchestra, with wonderful chords. As for the lyrics, Rogier violently disagreed
with them! (…) In smaller venues, he sometimes had to play a piano which was off
stage, among the audience. If crowds had turned violent, he would have been the
first they killed! In fact, though, the reactions were much milder than that.
People usually just stood up and shouted,“Disgraceful!”,
but even then Rogier got really nervous. He would start playing at a higher
tempo, rushing through the song as fast as he could.”
After one year, Van Otterloo left
Lurelei to focus on studio arranging. Initially, he worked with a smaller company,
Iramac, writing scores for records by Thijs van Leer, The Outsiders, and his
old schoolmate Edwin Rutten. Rogier also composed songs for Gerard Cox (‘Een
broekje in de branding’) and Frans Halsema (‘Sandra’). Moreover, he wrote their
arrangements, not only for studio recordings, but for live performances as
well. In 1969, when Halsema performed with the Metropole Orchestra in a summer
show, Van Otterloo wrote his first arrangements for Dolf van der Linden’s
renowned radio ensemble. To the young arranger, it felt as a litmus test, as he
recalled some years later. “In a first arrangement for such a big orchestra, a
mistake is easily made. The first three nights after receiving the commission,
I couldn’t sleep. Fortunately, in those early days, Dolf van der Linden
supported me through thick and thin.”
By that time, Rogier van Otterloo
was also writing scores for other record companies and smaller radio ensembles.
In 1970, he got in touch with CBS’s A&R manager John Vis. Recognising Van Otterloo’s
talent, Vis immediately coupled him with his promising young producer Ruud Jacobs.
Together, the newly formed duo took on a string of ambitious recording projects
commissioned by Vis – one of the first being an album with jazz singer Rita
Reys interpreting compositions by Burt Bacharach (1971).
With his
eldest son, Bas (early 1970s)
Still showing little interest in
pop music, Rogier barely knew Burt Bacharach’s name, but to Vis’ mind, that was
an asset rather than a disadvantage: “When doing cover versions of Bacharach,
everyone used to replicate the original arrangements written by the maestro
himself. All of it was based on the initial versions done with Bacharach’s
favourite singer, Dionne Warwick. I thought different. I wanted Rogier, being
as he was, completely unaware of any of those cover versions, to study the original
pieces and come up with radically different arrangements of well-known
Bacharach repertoire. Rogier wasn’t listening to recordings by God knows who
all day long. That’s why he was so authentic – and the main reason why I took
the gamble to do a Burt Bacharach project with him.”
Under the aegis of John Vis, who gave
his protégé Claus Ogerman records to find inspiration, Van Otterloo widened his
musical horizon considerably in the following years. Amongst others, he
arranged albums with chansonniers Frits Lambrechts and Jules de Corte; as well
as working with virtuoso instrumentalists Louis van Dijk, Chris Hinze, and Thijs
van Leer – for all of whom he wrote arrangements with a distinct baroque touch,
usually on the crossroads of classical music, jazz, and pop. Crossover turned
out to be a gap in the market; especially ‘Introspection’, an album with flute
player Thijs van Leer recorded in 1972, sold well, staying in the Netherlands’
album charts for a mind-blowing 132 weeks. Van Otterloo himself, though, was slightly
uncomfortable with the direction John Vis was pushing him in.
“Rogier thought ‘Introspection’
wasn’t that bad," Jacobs comments, "but he had mixed feelings, because he had to write arrangements
to classical pieces. He found that really hard. To his mind, Fauré’s ‘Pavane’
was good enough as it was, but John and I said,“If we add a little
double-bass underneath and just a tiny bit of percussion as well, just in a
very tasteful way…”. Rogier did it, but he couldn’t help feeling embarrassed
all the same."
In 1973, Rogier van Otterloo wrote the
arrangement to Gerard Cox’ number-one hit ‘’t Is weer voorbij die mooie zomer’,
a cover version of an Arlo Guthrie song. It was recorded at the end of a day of
working on a jazz album with guitarist Wim Overgaauw. Most of the musicians had
already left the building. Sound engineer Dick Bakker, “At that point,
Rogier spoke the historical words: “Ah, I had completely forgotten
about that ‘drol van Kots’ (literally translated: ‘piece of shit by Puke’; Kots
being a pun on Gerard Cox’s surname – BT)” Rogier often spoke in
a condescending manner about music which he felt was beneath his dignity. He
had written a little arrangement, but not all instruments required were present
in the studio. Therefore, he improvised with the musicians who were still there.
There was no accordion part in the song, but accordionist Harry Mooten was available
– and so Rogier gave Harry a sign to stay for just a little longer. There were
some others… background vocalist Letty de Jong was one. Mary Duys was also
around, so she was dragged in to sing along with Letty. “Come on,
guys, let’s get this done as fast as we can!”, Rogier shouted. I
think he managed to do the recording within ten minutes. His job done, Rogier went
home, while I stayed for a little while to do a sound mix… and that was Gerard
Cox’s monster hit!”
Asked by a journalist about his
arranging work, Rogier van Otterloo felt it should be considered a form of craftsmanship
rather than art. Deep down, he preferred working on his own compositions.
Finally, in 1974, John Vis allows his star arranger to release an album with his
own instrumental pieces, ‘Visions’. According to Van Otterloo, the LP was an
attempt to create a sound which would appeal to a bricklayer as well as to a
musician with conservatoire credentials. Ruud Jacobs felt ‘Visions’ was a
partial success at most. “Rogier absolutely loved it,” he recalled. “I thought
it was an interesting project too, but his style of writing was simply too
much. John and I never were that fond of brass. Yes, soft horns or
a beautiful trombone, but not this noisy fanfare Rogier confronted us with.
There was more than enough of that. To our mind, Rogier’s main qualities showed
in his string arrangements. Nobody was better at them than him. But in his
heart, he must have preferred brass and Stravinsky-like music. He was his
father’s son, obviously.”
In 1973, Van Otterloo wrote the
string arrangements to the Beach Boys’ album ‘Holland’ – the only local
musician to contribute to this LP recorded in the Netherlands. That same year,
he made his debut as a film composer, penning the soundtrack to Paul Verhoeven’s
film Turkish Delight; for the recording, he relied on the help of Belgian
mouth organ wizard Toots Thielemans.
Rogier’s first
solo record: ‘Visions’, released at CBS (1974)
“If I’m not mistaken,
Jan Wolkers (who wrote the book on which the film was based – BT) would have preferred Willem Breuker to write the music, but it’s up to the
producer to recruit his crew," Van Otterloo explained to a newspaper journalist. "Through the record company, I was chosen. Of course,
I wanted to watch the film before accepting. I have to be able to empathise
with what happens on screen. Music has to convey moods. If I had disagreed with
the film, it would have been very difficult to manage.” In another conversation,
Rogier expounded on the choices he had made as a composer. “In the book, there
are references to Cliff Richard, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis, but if bit of
their music had been included in the film, it would have dated the final
product unnecessarily. (…) Musically speaking, I’m really happy with the
result. Some pieces are really good, especially as the music fits the mood of
the movie. At the very start, while the opening titles are still running, there’s
Toots Thielemans’ wonderful mouthorgan play which drags the viewer into the movie
right away.”
In the remainder of his life,
Rogier van Otterloo wrote the soundtracks of eight more films, including Soldier Of Orange (1977), an epic story of resistance fighters in World War II, for which
he came up with an orchestral main theme that has become his best-known
composition. Van Otterloo also wrote the music to a handful of television
series as well as several advertisement campaigns, most notably for employment
agency Randstad.
In 1975, having his fill of writing
crossover arrangements for John Vis and CBS, Van Otterloo switched to rival
record company Polydor, where he signed a contract for three instrumental solo
albums. Polydor’s producer, Cees Schrama, left the composer more artistic freedom
than he had ever enjoyed at CBS. The first result was ‘On The Move’, an LP which
was even more progressive than ‘Visions’ had been – betraying undertones of
American funk and fusion. Rogier recorded his compositions with English session
musicians in the CTS Studios. For the sessions in London, Rogier was
accompanied by sound engineer Dick Bakker.
Bakker
about the morning of the first session, “Rogier was simply wearing leisure
garments. There he was, walking from music desk to music desk to pass out the
scores for the individual members of the orchestra. These English guys thought
he was one of the attendants. When he climbed onto the conductor’s platform, they
were convinced this rascal was taking the mickey out of them, but their
scepticism subsided rapidly. After having played through the first wonderful
intro, they were hugely impressed. Rogier never cared for the glamour of
standing up in front of an orchestra – and, more generally, he paid no
attention to his appearance at all. One time, he showed up at a funeral wearing
short jeans… a really old one with frayed edges. “Well, Rogier, are
you at work in your garden?”, someone wondered. His behaviour wasn’t
appropriate, but he couldn’t care less.”
Conducting the
sessions for his album ‘On The Move’: CTS Studios, London (1976)
Unfortunately, ‘On The Move’, musically
speaking arguably Van Otterloo’s most interesting album, did not catch on with
record buyers – and neither did the two follow-ups. In 1978, Van Otterloo and
Polydor’s management decided to part ways. Cees Schrama: “We spent some 400,000
guilders, earning back at most half of that amount in revenues. An artist
deserves several years to experiment, but at some point there has to be an
upward-sloping line – if not, it’s better to stop. Rogier never blamed me for
what happened (…). To me, Rogier made some wonderful music with CBS… but his most
beautiful pieces were recorded with us at Polydor. Why? Because this was his
music of choice. I feel privileged having been allowed to work with him during
that part of his life.”
In the following two years, Rogier van
Otterloo worked freelance, recording an album with Conny Vandenbos and pieces
of Edith Piaf while also retracing his steps by accepting some commissions from
his old friend John Vis at CBS. By that time, however, he had moved away somewhat
from studio arranging, instead focusing ever more on film scoring and conducting
television orchestras. Already back in 1970, he had made his debut as a
television conductor for an AVRO music show. Two years later, Van Otterloo was
commissioned to compile and conduct a 46-piece-orchestra for the annual Grand
Gala du Disque, the annual award show organised by the Netherlands’ music industry;
in the programme, he worked with a lavish cast of national and international
artists such as Rod McKuen, Georges Moustaki, and The Osmond Brothers.
It was a commission which could
have made any musician nervous, but not thirty-year-old Rogier, “When I
conducted the Grand Gala last year,” he stated in a newspaper interview in
1973, “admittedly, it was a daunting task: there are millions of TV viewers and
you have to work your way through a huge pile of music scores. Be that as it
may, I slept very well the night before. Things like that don’t make me
jittery. I am a hard worker, but not in an excessive way. Moreover, I can
easily relax and unwind. When I play football or go fishing, two pastimes I like
spending much time on, I manage to forget everything around me.”
Schiphol
Airport – on the way to a recording session in London, from left to right:
Rogier, Pim Jacobs, Rita Reys, and Ruud Jacobs (mid-1970s)
Between 1972 and 1977, Rogier van
Otterloo was the musical director of Music All-In, an entertainment programme
featuring mostly jazz, chanson, and crossover music, produced by Ralph Inbar
and hosted by Pim Jacobs. Each season, nine sequels were recorded with a host
of high-profile soloists; Anita Kerr, Charles Aznavour, and Ella Fitzgerald all
performed in the programme at some point. Apart from conducting the orchestra,
Van Otterloo wrote part of the arrangements. Sometimes, several episodes of Music
All-In were recorded on one day. Horn player Roel Koster hated the gruelling
schedule which the conductor enforced on his orchestra: “We started recording at
10.30am, working until 11pm. These days seemed endless. Once, it was excruciatingly
hot – some forty degrees Celsius. When one of the string players had the heart
to complain about the temperature, Rogier showed no mercy,“Sit
down, or else you don’t have to come back ever again!”
In 1977, Van Otterloo made his
debut as a guest conductor with the Metropole Orchestra. Meanwhile, the
avuncular Dolf van der Linden, who had been the ensemble’s chief conductor
since its foundation in 1945, was approaching the pensionable age – and,
especially as Van der Linden was seriously ill for several months in 1976,
the musicians started thinking about a successor. Though those who had come
across Rogier van Otterloo in freelance orchestras knew he wasn’t an easy character
to work with by any means, the younger generation of musicians realised the
orchestra badly needed new impetus. Problematically, though, Dolf van der Linden did not want to discuss the future of the orchestra. Moreover, he didn’t
have a high opinion of Van Otterloo; Van der Linden felt he lacked the technique
required to conduct his orchestra. In a private conversation with conducting
colleague Jan Stulen, Dolf referred to Van Otterloo as a
pastry cook and bicycle repairman.
When asked about Van der Linden's attitude towards Van Otterloo, concertmaster Ernő Oláh explains, “To my mind, it wasn’t personal. Deep down, Dolf simply wanted
his orchestra to go down with him. As you’ll understand, this was a prospect
which frightened us, the new kids in the orchestra. We were determined to do everything
within our power to keep it going. Of all the candidates who were discussed,
Rogier was the only one whose reputation and talents as a composer and arranger
could give us the boost we were so badly in need of. This guy wrote the music
which fitted in with our times. He didn’t follow fashions – he created them, showing
a direction which others followed. As a conductor, Dolf van der Linden
was great, but he was getting older; and he wasn’t too keen to allow talented
conductors an opportunity to do a guest performance. There was no way you could
even begin a discussion about a successor. In the end, we decided to approach
Rogier behind Dolf’s back. Dolf was really hurt, but there was no
other option.”
Rehearsing for
‘Music All-In’ – with Ella Fitzgerald in the background (1976)
Was Rogier enthusiastic about the prospect of
working with the Metropole Orchestra? His wife, Willy: “No, at the outset, he
wasn’t really. Over the years, it had evolved in some sort of a ballroom orchestra…
terribly old-fashioned. You seldom ever heard them on the radio any longer. I
wasn’t that keen either – I mean, Rogier was enjoying success as a film
composer and studio arranger. He had managed to build quite a reputation. So why
join an old gentlemen’s club? Ernő and some of the other musicians came to
visit, imploring Rogier to consider their offer. Finally, realising that much
of the older guard would go on pension around the same time as Dolf, he decided
to accept. There was the potential to turn the orchestra into something more
contemporary. No, Rogier never regretted his decision. To my initial surprise,
it was a job which suited him very well.”
Joining the Metropole Orchestra as assistant
chief conductor in 1979, Rogier van Otterloo finally took over from Dolf vander Linden the following year. During his year as Van der Linden’s
understudy, Van Otterloo was keen to exchange ideas, but the old maestro was
too hurt. “Rogier called Dolf several times,” according to Ernő Oláh, “but
Dolf simply hung up on him. At that point, he decided to go visit him at
home. I strongly advised against it, because Dolf wasn’t the type of
person who liked receiving unannounced visitors. Having a chat while downing a beer
or two wasn’t his style. A lovely man, but a bit distant. Rogier dismissed me as
a pessimist and went to Hilversum to knock on Dolf’s door… but, of course,
the door was shut in his face. That was the end of Rogier’s attempts. There was
never any incident between the two, but Dolf needed time to come to
terms with the idea that he had to leave his orchestra to someone else.”
In a newspaper interview on the occasion
of his appointment, speaking of his ambitions, Van Otterloo stated: “Working
with the Metropole Orchestra means playing music scores of which the ink is
still wet. The music is fresh as can be. It’s not at all the same as playing a
Beethoven symphony for the thousandth time. (…) I am on the lookout for new, bright,
hip compositions. Personally, I prefer instrumental pieces, but of course we’ll
have to take on all sorts of different projects. A very important trait of any
conductor is being a good coach, able to inspire and motivate the orchestra. Players
cannot give their best until being utterly convinced they’re working on the
best music on earth.”
Musical director
of the Metropole Orchestra: November 1980
Right from the start, Van Otterloo
seemed to be able to inspire the orchestra – and moreover, his reputation alone
was sufficient to receive many more requests from radio and television than in previous
years. Continuing to work with Dolf van der Linden’s star arrangers Rob
Pronk and Jerry van Rooyen, Van Otterloo also attracted top-notch writers from
abroad, most notably Kenny Napper, Steve Gray, and Bill Holman. Quite opposite
to his predecessor, who had hardly composed or arranged repertoire for his
orchestra during the last twenty years of his tenure, Van Otterloo contributed
new pieces regularly. Some of the first examples were his Eurovision overture
(1980) and ‘Mistral’ (1981).
“In the course of his eight years
with us, Ernő Oláh recalls, smilingly, "Rogier wrote some pieces for me which were heaven on earth. In the
score, it didn’t say ‘solo violin’, it said ‘Ernő’. This music was tailor-made
for us. That’s why these years with Rogier were so glorious and happy. In
rehearsals, we didn’t stop until the result was just great. Each solo bears a message
for the musician playing it. If you play the notes without immersing yourself in
it completely, you can’t convey the composer’s emotions. A solo has to grab you
in the face and take you to a higher level of existence. That’s the level you
could reach with Rogier.”
Van Otterloo did not stop just
there. Continuing the work started by Dolf van der Linden to bring in
fresh players, he rejuvenated most of the orchestra during the first three years
of his conductorship. In 1983, when Jan Stulen’s light-classical Promenade
Orchestra was dismantled, Rogier convinced the broadcaster’s management that
the Metropole needed an extended string section – and incorporated some fifteen
of the Promenade Orchestra’s string players into his orchestra. Another
innovation was his creation of two different rhythm sections: one for jazz
projects, the other for pop music.
Not Rogier’s
favourite genre – Van Otterloo and his orchestra in a TV show playing operetta music with soloist Marco Bakker (c. 1981)
As percussionist Rob Meyn recalled, “Bass
guitarist Jan Hollestelle was the first of the pop guys in our midst; Jan replaced
Rob Langereis for programmes which were predominantly pop-oriented. Later, guitarist
Lex Bolderdijk and drummer Arno van Nieuwenhuize joined as well, creating a
fully-fledged pop rhythm group (…), but Rogier did more than changing the
make-up of the orchestra; we had to get used to his style of rehearsing as well.
He needed much more time than we had been used to previously. For a full day of
rehearsing, Dolf often managed to do all the work in the morning hours; by
1PM, we could often go home to enjoy an afternoon off. Rogier was different. He
demanded a higher level of perfection from us. Consequently, our working days
became much longer.”
As Dolf van der Linden had already predicted, Rogier’s instinctive, rather physical style of
conducting caused some problems in the beginning. It became painfully clear
that conducting operetta and other light classical genres, as Van der Linden
had done for decades, was beyond his capabilities. “From a purely technical
point of view,” violinist Ernő Oláh explains, “Dolf van der Linden is the best conductor we ever had. Having said that, you have
to take into account that the variation in repertoire in Dolf’s years
was not that considerable. His style of conducting fitted in wonderfully well
with the music genres the orchestra played at the time. To give you an example:
he never had to work on wildly experimental rock music. In that sense, Dolf
had had an easy ride. Rogier, on the other hand, was a fantastic composer and
arranger, but he needed time to develop his style of conducting. His gestures
were always rather angular. After a while, we got used to him, but he never became
a conductor through and through.”
Under Van Otterloo, the Metropole
Orchestra took part in a wide variety of radio and television programmes,
ranging from symphonic jazz on late night radio to chanson and outright pop. Although
he never quite felt at ease working on pop music, Van Otterloo did not run away
from it, conducting the Netherlands’ pre-selection for the Eurovision Song
Contest and the Gala Of The Year shows in Rotterdam’s Ahoy’ with Lee Towers and
Anita Meyer. His obligations as a conductor left him increasingly little time for
composing. “Ideally, I would like to spend twenty, twenty-five weeks a year on
writing music and fifteen weeks on conducting,” he told a newspaper journalist
in 1986. “At the moment, the situation is more or less the other way around.
Including guest performances with other orchestras (most notably
the Rotterdam Philharmonic – BT), I am waving the baton for some
35 weeks per year. Next season will include 23 TV programmes.
Having said that, I’m quite looking forward to all those projects, because my
orchestra is nothing short of fantastic.”
Ernő Oláh’s solo album ‘Szféra’ was arranged by Rogier van Otterloo (1985)
In early 1983, Van Otterloo experienced
respiratory problems, which turned out not to be due to pneumonia, but a
malignant tumour in his lungs. After a successful operation and a recovery
which lasted several months, he was ready to get back to work by the summer of
that same year, but the disease raised its ugly head once again three years later
– and this time, there was no way back. Though he now had to be replaced for much
longer periods, during which Jan Stulen, Jerry van Rooyen, and Harry van Hoof stepped in, most members of the orchestra were not in the know of
the seriousness of their chief conductor’s illness. “There was no talk of the
end being near,” flute player Friederike Darius recalled. “It was all a bit mysterious.
Rogier didn’t want to give up. He was ill, but everyone was hoping for his return
until the very end. There wasn’t any talk of looking for a successor. Rogier
was so young. His head was full of new exciting projects.”
In January 1988, Rogier van
Otterloo passed away, aged 46. Three months later, he was posthumously awarded
with an Edison Prize for the album ‘My Romance’, which he had recorded with the
Metropole Orchestra and jazz soloists Greetje Kauffeld, Ack van Rooyen, Herman
Schoonderwalt, and Eef Albers. The prize offered little comfort to the musicians
of the Metropole Orchestra; they were desperate. “We were all in shock when he
died,” horn player Roel Koster remembers. “Nobody knew what to do or where to
turn. After coming home from his funeral, I couldn’t think of anything else to
do than listening to his arrangement ‘Go on forever’ for hours on end. How
could this orchestra continue? How could we go on without this man?”
The search for a new chief conductor
took over three years; during part of that period, Jerry van Rooyen stepped in
as a temporary replacement. Finally, in 1991, when the broadcasting service was
on the brink of dismantling the orchestra altogether, Dick Bakker, in
spite of harbouring the same reservations his old friend had had a decade before,
accepted the offer to step in: “In 1979, when Rogier took over the orchestra, I
was astonished about his decision – and many others in the business as well.
Until that time, he had always spoken of the Metropole Orchestra in a rather
derogatory manner. He thought they were rubbish; and a regular job at the
public broadcasting service… what could be more boring? Well, human beings are
strange creatures who are prone to changing mind all the time. Twelve years
later, the job was mine.”
After Israel won the Eurovision
Song Contest for a second year in a row in 1979, the country declined organising
the festival again. Thereupon, the European Broadcasting Union asked the Netherlands
to step in. Thus, the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest was held in The Hague, in
the same Congresgebouw which had hosted the competition four years previously. Although,
technically, Dolf van der Linden was still in charge of the Metropole
Orchestra as chief conductor – his retirement due in September of that year –
he did not have any part in the contest. After having been replaced by Harry van Hoof in 1972, Van der Linden refused any further involvement. For the Eurovision edition of 1976, he personally chose Jan Stulen, the
conductor of the light-classical Promenade Orchestra, to step in.
Four years later, it was beyond Vander Linden’s control to handpick a replacement. His retirement being due in
the fall of 1980, he already had to tolerate working alongside a successor-elect;
one year prior to taking Van der Linden’s place, Van Otterloo was
appointed as his assistant – an uncomfortable situation for both men. At the same
time, this made Van Otterloo the obvious choice for musical director of the 1980
Eurovision Song Contest. For Van Otterloo, it was the first opportunity to prove
himself in his new capacity. When asked by a journalist about the prospect of conducting
the festival, he replied, “Don’t be mistaken, Eurovision is a hell of a job.
Ten consecutive days of rehearsing and music which isn’t always that good. But
then, we’ll be performing for a television audience of about half a billion;
and we’ll be playing a majestic overture. Lastly, the orchestra has to perform under
the baton of various conductors (from other participating countries
– BT) – and there are bound to be some quite strange fellows among
them.”
Confronted with the last sentence
in the quote above, Ernő Oláh, Van Otterloo’s concertmaster, cannot
help laughing, “Indeed, some conductors in a Eurovision Song Contest were hopelessly
amateurish. In the Metropole Orchestra, we were used to working with Dolf
and Rogier, who were experienced professionals – and some of these foreign guys
were composers or studio arrangers not used to conducting an orchestra. This
could lead to problematic situations; in some cases, the orchestra had to guide
the conductor instead of the other way around. Before the rehearsals got
underway, I had spoken about this with Rogier. He could be rather blunt, tactless
even, while I was used to working with guest conductors. We agreed that he
would leave it up to me to speak with them if problems arose; I took them
aside, giving them fatherly advice on which gestures to make to help the
orchestra players. Rogier was present during rehearsals to welcome all
conductors on behalf of the orchestra. Of course, Eurovision wasn’t his cup of
tea, but believe me: he was motivated to get the best possible result like all
the rest of us.”
Apart from overseeing rehearsals,
Rogier van Otterloo also conducted the Netherlands’ effort, ‘Amsterdam’ by
Maggie MacNeal. Van Otterloo personally approached Dick Bakker to write
the orchestration. “Rogier wasn’t thrilled about the song,” Bakker recalls.
“At two-thirds, there was an ugly transition to a different key. He didn’t know
what to do with it and wondered if I knew a way out. Taking the lyrics as my
starting point, I felt I needed a sound related to the city of Amsterdam itself.
That’s how I got the idea of bringing in a barrel organ. For the barrel organ elements
in the choruses I used a small electric organ. That same organ was my solution
to this strange modulation for which Rogier hadn’t found a solution. Thus, the
transition became slightly more fluent and natural.”
The
Netherlands’ contestant Maggie MacNeal and her backing musicians on stage in the 1980 Eurovision Song
Contest
Even forty years on, singer Maggie
MacNeal (Sjoukje van ‘t Spijker in real life) cannot hide her enthusiasm about
the arrangement. “Great, in one word! It was a touch of genius how Dick
managed to sow that barrel organ into the melody; the modulation he came up
with was sublime too. The rest of the arrangement was pretty straightforward.
Usually, I wrote the arrangements to new songs with my husband (drummer
Frans Smit – BT) and the rest of my band, but Eurovision was a
bit too important – and I was happy to let a professional as Dick Bakker
bring in his expertise. During the rehearsals in The Hague, he was around to
check if the sound was right.”
When asked about the rehearsals with Van
Otterloo and the Metropole Orchestra, Maggie adds, “Frankly, Rogier was a bit
inaccessible. Previously, when I did Eurovision in 1974, I had worked with Harry van Hoof, who was much more relaxed… just one of the guys, you know. Rogier
didn’t have the slickness. Moreover, right before we started our rehearsal, he told
us how unhappy he was about our using a rhythm track. He felt it was unnecessary;
his orchestra could play everything live… and my backing musicians had better
go home. At that point, my husband Frans stepped in and spoke up for the guys on
stage. Looking back, Rogier might have been a bit tense about his responsibilities
as musical director in such a huge international show, but I think he didn’t really
like working on this kind of music either. All those shallow songs and la-la-la…
I wouldn’t say he disdained it, but it wasn’t for him. He gave us a feeling
that he was of a different calibre. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take away anything
from his capabilities as a composer; his overture to the festival was a piece
of art. As for our song, he did a sterling job on that as well – the orchestra
played to perfection.”
In the voting, won by Ireland’s
Johnny Logan, ‘Amsterdam’ finished in a respectable fifth place. For Rogier van
Otterloo, it was the end of what must have been a stressful day. Mere hours
before the start of the programme, he was confronted with an acute problem. Double-bassist
Rob Langereis, an excellent jazz player but not that keen on pop music, reported
sick. A replacement had to be found urgently – and the man who did the job, Jan
Hollestelle, stayed with the orchestra for good. Hollestelle was the first of the
Metropole Orchestra’s pop rhythm section, which Van Otterloo compiled in the
following years; henceforth, the orchestra had two rhythm sections, one for jazz
projects, the other for pop music. After the contest, Van Otterloo received
praise in newspaper columns for the way he and his orchestra had presented themselves
on an international stage; De Telegraaf specifically
praised his self-penned instrumental overture.
“It was a dazzling piece of music,”
concertmaster Ernő Oláh agrees. “When Rogier was commissioned to write that overture, the
both of us discussed it at length. In his orchestral arrangements, the
excitement usually came from the brass section; string parts he wrote around
that mainly consisted of long notes – a warm blanket of
strings wrapped around the melody, little more. Among string players, we referred
to them as football notes. We were bored! Our potential
was seldom used to the full. For that reason, I encouraged Rogier to put more emotion
into his string writing. With Dolf van der Linden, there had never been
a need to ask – most of his string arrangements were lively, in a style which
was very American. When Rogier succeeded him, I felt he needed some challenging.
In this overture, he put in all kinds of little runs and figures for the string
group. It made the sound of the orchestra as a whole much richer.”
Rogier van
Otterloo taking his bow before counting in the Netherlands’ entry ‘Amsterdam’
by Maggie MacNeal (The Hague – Eurovision 1980)
One year on, in 1981, the NOS returned to
organising its traditional televised selection programme to choose the Eurovision
entry, the so-called Nationaal Songfestival; ten songs performed by five artists
were selected to take part in the competition, of which nine were accompanied
by Van Otterloo and his orchestra; to the conductor’s dismay, however, the
winning song was the distinctly Schlageresque ‘Het is een wonder’, the only
entry without any orchestral accompaniment. The performing artist, an hitherto unknown
girl with the stage name Linda Williams, was accompanied by a five-man backing
group, including Francis Goya on guitar.
At the final, held in Rotterdam, Dick Bakker had a composition in the running as well. Backstage, Bakker witnessed
Van Otterloo’s reaction when ‘Het is een wonder’ won: “When the result came
through, Rogier was livid. He threw the whole pack of arrangements for the show
on the floor, exclaiming,“This is an utter disgrace!” At that point, I couldn’t help laughing.”
Initially, the production team
behind ‘Het is een wonder’ saw no reason to add an orchestral arrangement to
the song now that it had been picked to go the international final in Dublin;
however, under the pretext that the use of the orchestra was obligatory in the
Eurovision Song Contest – which was untrue, as the previous two editions had seen
entries from Italy and Belgium with a full backing track mimed by
instrumentalists on stage –, NOS officials managed to convince them to add a
string arrangement. Producer Bart van de Laar handed the score, written by John
Sluszny, to Rogier van Otterloo upon arrival in the hotel in Dublin.
Needless to say, Van Otterloo was
not a happy man in Dublin – and he made no secret of it. In an interview with a
Dutch newspaper a couple of days before the festival, he stated: “The truth of
the matter is that I have come here to conduct just twenty-five string players.
To my mind, contestants shouldn’t be allowed to use backing tracks. New rules
have to be put in place. For an artist performing at a small venue far away in
the countryside, I can imagine such tools are helpful; here, however, there is
an experienced Irish orchestra available which, musically speaking, is able to
fulfil all requirements.”
Linda Williams
with songwriter Cees de Wit (left) and her producer Bart van de Laar (right)
after winning the Netherlands’ Eurovision pre-selection in Rotterdam (1981)
In Dublin, Rogier was accompanied
by his wife, Willy. She does not have the best of memories of the week in
Ireland. “Rogier didn’t like Linda Williams’ song to begin with. We thought it
was a bit silly. In the weeks leading up to the contest, we were poking fun of
it at the kitchen table, singing that nagging chorus over and over. To make matters
worse, once we were in Dublin, Rogier fell ill. He suffered from pain on his
chest. Possibly, these were the first symptoms of lung cancer, who knows? At
any rate, he did little more than travel from the hotel to the concert venue to
do the rehearsals, and back again. We had little opportunity to go out and do
some sightseeing.”
Van Otterloo’s chagrin notwithstanding,
‘Het is een wonder’ did not go down badly with international jurors, picking up
51 points and finishing ninth among twenty participating entries. Listening to
the live version of ‘Het is een wonder’, it is rather understandable that the
conductor felt redundant, as the strings were put so low in the mix that they were
cancelled out almost completely by the backing tape. Months later, when Van
Otterloo was interviewed by De Telegraaf’s Henk van
der Meyden, the conductor was still indignant about his most recent Eurovision
experience:
“What happened in the past edition
of the contest with our song ‘Het is een wonder’, was pathetic, don’t you think?
Admittedly, Linda is quite a good singer, but in my role as a conductor in this
festival I was ashamed of our entry. It lacked any form of originality. No
creativity whatsoever, no attempt to come up with something ‘new’ in the true
sense of the word. This is the way it has been with our Eurovision entries for
years now. Time and again, the songs submitted are in the same vein as in
previous years, because it is assumed – rightly so, I’m afraid – that such
songs get picked more readily (by the national jury – BT).
My opinion is different. I’d rather finish last with an original song than coming
seventh with a ten-a-penny kind of entry. As a conductor and as a musician, I can
no longer accept this type of songs… I really can’t! Therefore, I have proposed
to those responsible in NOS’s entertainment branch to henceforth make
creativity and originality the most important criterion when picking a
Eurovision entry. I want the Netherlands to take part with something which is
truly ‘new’. If this won’t be the case and we can’t come up with something
better, I will withdraw as a conductor. I cannot accept it! I couldn’t bear conducting
this type of music in the Eurovision Song Contest again.”
Uneasy smiles,
from left to right: Linda Williams, commentator Pim Jacobs, and Rogier –
Dublin, Eurovision 1981
Van Otterloo’s pleas did not go
unheard. For the 1982 Nationaal Songfestival, he was included in the selection
committed along with, amongst others, his friends Pim and Ruud Jacobs. They
picked three songs for the national final; there, another jury would take over
to make the final choice. An original plan was thought up: this second jury was
to consist of seven Eurovision conductors from other countries; for
organisational reasons, however, nothing came of it. Thereupon, seven Dutch
music and showbiz professionals were called upon. Contrary to expectation, a retro
ditty in Gilbert O’Sullivan style, ‘Jij en ik’ (composed by Dick Bakker),
beat pre-contest favourite ‘Fantasy Island’ into second place.
According to Piet Souer, one
of the songwriters of the rigorously up-tempo ‘Fantasy Island’, Rogier van
Otterloo strongly influenced the outcome. “That year, everyone’s main concern appeared
to be to choose quality – whatever that might mean. For that reason, people in
the jury seemed to like the fact that the lyrics of ‘Jij en ik’ were by
Liselore Gerritsen (a well-known chansonnière and Ruud Jacobs’ wife
– BT). Furthermore, Rogier van Otterloo made it known that he
preferred ‘Jij en ik’ over the other songs; this amounted to a voting
recommendation for the jurors. I’d like to stress that I wouldn’t dare to judge
the artistical value of ‘Jij en ik’, but instinctively I sensed that its chances
in an international competition were minimal.”
The vocalist chosen to perform ‘Jij
en ik’ was actor and musical singer Bill van Dijk. “I was approached by (composer
and arranger) Tony Eyk”, Van Dijk recalls. “I didn’t know at the
time that Dave and Rob de Nijs had already been offered to take part, but refused
– and then Tony and Rogier probably thought of my name. Before Eurovision, I
had regularly worked with Rogier and the Metropole Orchestra to our mutual
satisfaction. Initially, I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Eurovision. It was
an event which I had never paid much attention to. When I expressed my doubts,
Tony and Rogier persuaded me by claiming that it would be an excellent
opportunity to become a household name for television viewers in Holland.”
After his win, Bill van Dijk was signed by the Utopia
record company, who assigned the task of making a studio recording of ‘Jij en
ik’ to their producer… Piet Souer. From that moment, neither Bill van
Dijk nor Rogier van Otterloo seemed to have any say over the final product. Composer
Dick Bakker, who was in the studio when the song was recorded, was
brushed aside as well. “Even before the actual recording got underway,” Bakker
recalls, “I sensed which direction Piet wanted to take. With his
engineers, he took about fifteen minutes to set up the bass drum. The result
was a pop beat which was mercilessly loud. This didn’t fit in at all with my
original intentions when I wrote the song. Having said that, Piet is a
capable guy. At the time, I felt he might be right – perhaps my original
arrangement was too old-fashioned.”
Harrogate,
Eurovision Song Contest 1982 – Bill van Dijk rehearsing with his all-female backing group ‘The
Utopians’, from left to right: Anita Dekker (keys), Laetitia Dekker (drums), Lisa Boray, Jody Pijper (bass), and Wanda Stellaard (keys)
Looking back, Bill van Dijk puts it more sharply than
the songwriter: “My record company were a bunch of scoundrels. They were
convinced ‘Fantasy Island’ would win – and when it didn’t and they were stuck
with my song, they felt it had to be adapted radically. “This wasn’t
good, that wasn’t good either, it was too old-fashioned…” I completely
disagreed with their approach, but they weren’t really interested in my opinion
to be honest. Frankly, the result was a different song which lacked the pleasant Gilbert O’Sullivan feel it had had in the pre-selection.
Rogier agreed with me that this new version was inferior to the original.”
After all his pains to end up with a better entry than
in Dublin, Rogier van Otterloo found himself at the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest
in Harrogate basically doing the same as the previous year: conducting the
string section of the festival orchestra to add a tiny bit of extra flavour to an
extensive backing track. In spite of his vocal opposition to the use of pre-recorded
music elements, rhythm tracks were still allowed under Eurovision regulations.
Contrary to the year before, Van Otterloo did not make complaints about the
situation to journalists. Quite the opposite: according to those who were with
him, he seems to have enjoyed the week in Northern England.
Songwriter Dick Bakker was a good friend of
Rogier’s. “As Piet Souer was the producer,” Bakker recalls, “it
was up to him to oversee rehearsals, so I didn’t really get involved.
Meanwhile, we had a marvellous time. Liselore Gerritsen and her husband Ruud Jacobs
were there… and Rogier took his wife along. In all, it was great fun. Together,
we enjoyed our short holiday. Meanwhile, when we dropped in on rehearsals, we were
dismayed by the childish choreography which had been invented for Bill van Dijk
and his backing vocalists. Honestly speaking, we agreed we wanted as little to
do with all of that as possible.”
Poor Bill van Dijk was left to his
own devices. “That choreography wasn’t my idea! I wasn’t happy with it at all.
To make matters worse, when we came to Harrogate, we found the podium was too
small for the dance moves we had rehearsed in the Netherlands – so we had to
start from scratch, while rehearsing time was preciously tight. My wife had to
go looking for a local choreographer herself; Rogier and the rest of the NOS’ production
team arrived a couple of days later, but there was no help from them – they seemed
more focused on playing tennis and going to all kinds of different parties. It
wasn’t Rogier’s fault; he did his job in front of the orchestra, but nothing
more. In a conversation we had in Harrogate, Rogier and I agreed to do a Metropole
Orchestra special with me as a soloist, but, sadly, he fell ill quite soon afterwards…
and nothing came of it. That was a pity! Rogier was a hugely talented and
friendly man. Working with him was always enjoyable.”
Rogier van
Otterloo being welcomed by British chief conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst –
Eurovision 1982, Harrogate
In the Eurovision final, ‘Jij en ik’
did badly, picking up just eight points and finishing second-last. Now that Van
Otterloo had had his opportunity to influence the choice of the Netherlands’ festival
entry – and without much success either artistically or in terms of result –,
he was not given a second go. Whereas in 1982 artists had been invited by the
broadcaster, the following year record producers were commissioned to submit complete
acts for the national final; with this new approach, NOS Entertainment branch was hoping to“achieve a breakthrough to new talent”. In other
words: all power was back with the record companies. It sounded as the exact
opposite of what Van Otterloo had been arguing for all along.
In the end, Rogier van Otterloo had
no involvement in the 1983 Netherlands’ selection programme – not because of objections
to the formula chosen for the competition, but due to illness; undergoing cancer
treatment for months, it was not until the summer of that year that he was able
to resume his place at the helm of the Metropole Orchestra. In his absence, he
was replaced by several guest conductors; in the case of the Eurovision pre-selection,
Ruud Bos stepped in, an experienced composer and arranger who regularly worked
with the orchestra.
The 1983 edition of the Nationaal
Songfestival was not a happy affair for the orchestra; not only did the ensemble
have to make do without their chief, it also turned out virtually all of the
participating acts used extensive backing tracks. At some point during
rehearsals, the orchestra’s musicians rebelled; their drummer, Evert Overweg,
refused to cede his place to an instrumentalist miming the percussion part for
one of the songs on stage. Unbeknownst to NOS’ event crew, several weeks ahead
of the programme, the orchestra’s musicians had agreed henceforth to refuse working
with backing tracks or additional instrumentalists. Songwriters and producers taking
part in the national final were beside themselves with anger, demanding a
replacement orchestra. Their dismay was shared by NOS’ Head of Entertainment
Harry Hagedoorn, who, however, explained that it would be impossible to bring
together a freelance orchestra in the scope of four or five days. Eventually, the
Metropole Orchestra only played the overture, two medleys, and the finale; all
participating songs were performed to a full playback tape. Making matters worse,
the show’s host Ivo Niehe openly chided the orchestra for their behaviour to
the applause of the audience in the hall.
Van Otterloo’s replacement Ruud Bos
was little more than an unhappy witness. “Until the moment I asked Overweg to
cede his place for that one song, I was unaware of the sentiments in the orchestra.
This is a frustration which has been felt by the musicians for several years. To
my mind, it is nonsensical to automatically ask the Metropole Orchestra for
this type of programmes. A smaller orchestra of freelance players surely is
more easily malleable – exactly what producers want. Probably, this will be the
last time the Metropole Orchestra receives the commission to work on Eurovision.
To my mind, in this Nationaal Songfestival, the orchestra was pushed in a
direction which was far too commercial for their good anyway.”
The winner of
the 1983 Netherlands’ Eurovision selection, Bernadette Kraakman, interviewed on
stage by host Ivo Niehe
And, when asked if he agreed with his
musicians, Bos replied, “This is an orchestra that has been commissioned as one
integral body – it is no more than logical they want to perform as a group,
without backing tracks and additional musicians taking their place. Since
Rogier van Otterloo took over the orchestra, it has seen a remarkable upsurge thanks
to the influx of younger musicians. These youngsters feel they’re up to playing
anything – and quite rightly so, if I may say so.”
In the 1983’s Eurovision Song
Contest, Bos did not get to conduct the Netherlands’ effort ‘Sing me a song’. Instead,
the orchestra was led by producer and songwriter Piet Souer – the only
time in Eurovision history a Dutch entry was conducted by its composer. The
following year, in spite of Ruud Bos’ predictions, the Metropole Orchestra was
called upon again for the Eurovision selection programme – and a reinvigorated Rogier
van Otterloo was back as its musical director. Although the 1984 pre-selection
was a studio production without the orchestra present on stage, all songs had pre-recorded
arrangements played in their entirety by the Metropole Orchestra. The competition
was won by ‘Ik hou van jou’, a lush ballad arranged by Dick Bakker and
performed by a charming girl from Volendam, Maribelle.
Maribelle vividly remembers hearing
the Metropole Orchestra play the instrumental accompaniment to ‘Ik hou van jou’
for the first time. “We were preparing for the pre-selection show. In the studios
in Hilversum, they let me sit in front of the orchestra while they recorded ‘Ik
hou van jou’. It was such a beautiful moment – Rogier conducting this full
orchestra, with kettledrums and all. It seemed as if I was lifted from the
ground. I don’t know what heaven looks like, but I’m sure it must be something
like that! After winning the selection in the Netherlands, we recorded the single
release in England with players from the London Philharmonic. They were excellent.
Dick Bakker didn’t require more than two takes with them to get it
absolutely right.”
Maribelle on
stage in the 1984 Dutch Eurovision pre-selection
Given the character of the song,
its producers felt no additional backing track was required for the Eurovision
final in Luxembourg. As one of the few participating musical directors in the
contest, Rogier van Otterloo got to conduct the Eurovision orchestra in its
entirety. Not surprisingly, the orchestra musicians in Luxembourg unanimously
picked ‘Ik hou van jou’ as their number-one favourite.“This was
the only song for which the violinists could play their hearts out and even
hear what they were playing. After the general rehearsal, Rogier van Otterloo was
awarded with a spontaneous applause from the orchestra", a Dutch
journalist in Luxembourg noted. Nonetheless, the rehearsals were not completely
unproblematic. The tempo of the song had to be exactly right to avoid going over
the three-minute time limit.
“… and there was also this bass
guitarist in the orchestra,” Maribelle adds. “My husband Jan, who was a guitarist
himself, noticed that this guy was making a mistake on the same note every
time. Jan told Rogier, who was grateful and discussed it with the bass player
right away. From then on, the orchestra sounded perfect. The atmosphere in our
delegation was excellent, and Rogier was all smiles. He told everyone he loved
the song. No, he wasn’t distant at all – quite the opposite, he was really
supportive of me. It was a pity the orchestra was down in a pit below the
stage. I couldn’t even see Rogier. That was rather annoying… it made it all a little
unpersonal. I’d rather have had Rogier and the orchestra supporting me on
stage.”
Unfortunately, ‘Ik hou van jou’ failed
to win over international jurors, who picked a less than subtle up-tempo piece
from Sweden as their winners. Maribelle came thirteenth. After the contest, Van
Otterloo was quoted as saying, “This result proves once again that any artist
taking part in a song festival of this type is left to fend for himself. One
should really bear that in mind all the time; if you’re not up to it, you
shouldn’t even try.”
In spite of the deception,
Maribelle kept spirits high. Immediately after the voting, backstage, she invited
Rogier to a dance. “I was happy to have been part of Eurovision,” she explains.
“Germany came thirteenth as well, with the same number of points, but they didn’t
take it that lightly; their delegation even left the auditorium before the end
of the voting. I had no reason to feel downcast. I had had a great time and the
song was wonderful – and the arrangement was world-class. To my regret, I never
worked with Rogier after the festival in Luxembourg. Looking back, it was quite
a special experience to have had a musician of this calibre as my conductor.”
Rogier van
Otterloo with Maribelle after one of the rehearsals in Luxembourg’s Nouveau Théâtre:
Eurovision 1984
In the following two Eurovision
editions, Rogier van Otterloo had no part: in 1985, for the first time, the Netherlands
did not participate in the festival as it was held on May 4th, National
Remembrance Day; while, in 1986, Van Otterloo had fallen ill once more – the pulmonary
cancer which seemed to have been suppressed in the summer of 1983, had returned.
Rogier was replaced by Harry van Hoof, who returned to the festival after
a seven-year absence.
By the time preparations got underway
to pick the 1987 Netherlands’ Eurovision candidate, Van Otterloo’s condition
had worsened. Although spending long spells of time at home to recover, he did projects
with the Metropole Orchestra here and there whenever his physical condition enabled
– and the Nationaal Songfestival was one. For the selection, composers were
invited to submit their work. In the end, six entries were withheld, to be performed
by one artist: Marga Bult, former singer in girl group Babe. Marga had never
worked with Van Otterloo when she stepped into the Hilversum studios to
rehearse her festival songs.
“To tell you the truth, I was a bit
nervous,” she recalls, “but when I came in, all members of the orchestra rose to
their feet. That was rather impressive. I thanked them and shook hands with
Rogier. Then, he counted them in straightaway; he obviously didn’t like wasting
time! I loved singing with that orchestra. There were two rehearsal days before
the national final. After the second of them, Rogier said,“Mrs Bult,
I would like to tell you something. What a professional you are! I want to kiss
you.” And he kissed me on the cheek, three times, in front of the
whole orchestra. I was very surprised, because up to that point he seemed somewhat
distant. My producer Peter Koelewijn, who attended the rehearsals, was stunned.“Believe me, Marga, I’ve known Rogier for a long time, but this is
unprecedented; I’ve never seen him doing a thing like that." You’ll
understand that I was very proud.”
After the rehearsals in Hilversum
had taken place, the Nationaal Songfestival itself was held in The Hague. To
the dismay of Van Otterloo and the orchestra, it turned out that most of the
songs were backed up by a rhythm track. A new stand-off between songwriters and
orchestra was the result; contrary to four years before, the Metropole
Orchestra won the day this time around: in the broadcast, all songs were
performed entirely live.
Rogier van
Otterloo with Marcha in The Hague, rehearsing for the National Song Contest
(1987)
“This was a discussion between the producers
and Rogier,” Marga Bult explains. “To avoid being caught up in the middle, I chose
not to get involved, instead focusing on getting the performance right with my
backing group. Once ‘Rechtop in de wind’ had been picked for the Eurovision Song
Contest (one of three songs in the competition penned by Peter
Koelewijn – BT), Peter decided to bring in the backing tracks for
the international festival, adding some attractive synthesizer flavour onto the
orchestra. I agreed with Peter on this. Using additional tracks was allowed
under Eurovision rules and the sound became richer as a result. After we had arrived
at the rehearsals for the Eurovision final in Brussels, I had a chat with Rogier
about the rhythm tracks, explaining that it was about bringing about the best-possible
performance. He was unconvinced. Here was a man who even hated the use of click
tracks (used to indicate the tempo on the musicians’ headphones –
BT), let alone a back-up tape. Of course, I understood his point
of view. As a conductor, he must have felt restricted in his freedom while working
with the orchestra.”
This time, there was nothing Van
Otterloo could do. The arrangement he conducted in Brussels consisted of string
and brass parts only. To a newspaper journalist who attended the first
rehearsal, he made no attempt to hide his dissatisfaction.“This is
pure playback… and for no reason. The rhythm section in the orchestra at our
disposal here is magnificent.”
The fact that Van Otterloo was the
conductor of the Netherlands’ delegation in Brussels was a miracle in itself. Marga:
“Even when preparing the national final back in the Netherlands, the production
team weren’t sure if he was physically up to it – and if he wanted to do it in
the first place. They asked him, but his answer was that he wanted to do Eurovision
at all cost. Now, after the pre-selection in The Hague, some five weeks elapsed
until Brussels was due. Just days before going to
Eurovision, I received information that perhaps Rogier had to be replaced by Harry van Hoof after all. Apparently, his cancer had gotten worse. They asked Harry
if his agenda allowed him to jump in if need be. In the end, Rogier himself took
the decision to come along. I cannot begin to tell you how I respected that man.
He was looking emaciated – markedly worse than in The Hague, and even there it
was obvious that he was not well. Still, he made the trip to Brussels to help
me out. To my mind, he was every inch a professional.”
“In Brussels, I got to know him
better,” Marga continues. “By that time, we called each other by our first name
– and he had found out that I had worked as a nurse for several years. I asked
him how he was feeling every day.“How nice of you to ask!",
he whispered. Smalltalk wasn’t really for Rogier, and although he never spoke about
his health in public, he was keen to have a chat with me – provided we were
alone at a table without others overhearing our conversation. He spoke softly.
With my background in healthcare, I understood better than others what he was
going through. By that time, he was using heavy painkillers. I urged him to
take his meals on time and to avoid overstraining himself. Away from rehearsals,
he often went to bed. Rogier didn’t go to any of the parties. At one reception,
Toots Thielemans performed – and how wonderful would it have been to meet his
old friend again, but he simply was too weak to sit up all evening. Whenever
his presence wasn’t absolutely required, he stayed in the hotel.”
Marcha (Marga
Bult) rehearsing one of the six songs she performed in the 1987 Eurovision
selection programme in The Hague; behind her is backing vocalist Denise van der
Hek
For Marga’s second rehearsal, Van
Otterloo was too ill to come to the auditorium; Flemish colleague Freddy Sunder, who conducted the Belgian entry as well, was asked to step in. “That
rehearsal was flawless,” Marga recalls, “but it didn’t feel right. We were
worried that Rogier couldn’t do the concert after all. In the first rehearsal,
I had already noticed how much respect the Belgian musicians had for him. Perhaps
in a country farther away, it would have been different, but Rogier was a household
name in Belgium. When he stopped the orchestra for short instructions, the
musicians were all ears. Just watching him work with the orchestra in his own
strict way gave me a secure feeling. When I heard he was good enough to be
there with me on stage on the Saturday of the broadcast, I breathed a sigh of
relief.”
In the 1987 Eurovision Song
Contest, Marga oozed confidence while performing ‘Rechtop in de wind’; and she
was rewarded with 83 jury votes, finishing fifth among twenty-two participating
acts. It was the Netherlands’ best score in the competition in seven years. Marga recalls, “Rogier congratulated me on the result and on my performance. In an aside, he thanked
me for my support during the week, adding that he had found working with me a
thoroughly good experience. Before Eurovision, I already admired him as a composer
and conductor; his soundtrack to the film ‘Soldaat van Oranje’ is a work of art
in itself. After Brussels, my respect for him had grown
even further. He may have been a bit standoffish, but once you had broken
through the shield of detachment, he shared his emotions. Some time later, Peter
Koelewijn said he had noticed Rogier felt a click with me from the outset. From
the first rehearsal in Hilversum onward, there was mutual respect. All in all, the
man made an indelible impression on me.”
Backstage in Brussels, Rogier van
Otterloo told journalist Piet Koster,“This will be my last Eurovision
Song Contest. Next year, I won’t be there." There is no context
given to the quote; did he mean to say that he declined taking part in the
future, or did he sense that the seriousness of his illness was such that he
would not make the following edition? Whatever may be true, Van Otterloo was
right – it was his last of five Eurovision Song Contest participations; what was
more, the 1987 Eurovision final was his last-ever television performance.
Rogier spent the rest of the year at home to recover. Almost everyone, including
the majority of the musicians in his own orchestra, was kept in the dark about
his health situation until the very last; tragically, Van Otterloo never
recovered, passing away, as he did, in January 1988.
His last-ever
television appearance: Rogier van Otterloo in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest,
Brussels
OTHER ARTISTS ABOUT ROGIER VAN OTTERLOO
As a sound
engineer, Dick Bakker – who later succeeded Rogier
van Otterloo as the chief conductor of the Metropole Orchestra – extensively
worked with him throughout the 1970s. “Back then, he could be really high-handed
to colleagues, but once you were in his inner circle, you could do no wrong. Ruud
Jacobs and John Vis belonged to his friends – and, at a certain point, I was
let in as well. Rogier wasn’t used to working with a sound engineer who had his
own ideas about arrangements. It wasn’t long before he discovered that I was
just as much of a perfectionist as he was. Rogier was brilliant at
harmonisations, but I sometimes gave him advice on tempi. By the time I got to
know him, Rogier had acquired a profound knowledge of the works of the world’s best
jazz arrangers… the likes of Claus Ogerman and Johnny Mandel. It was John Vis
who had suggested to Rogier to listen to their work for inspiration. In my
turn, Rogier got me interested. Harmonically, their music was hugely interesting.
As an arranger, I usually worked on simple pop melodies, but even so, I sometimes
found possibilities to bring in some more refinement by changing the harmonisations.
In that respect, Rogier had a profound influence on me.” (2016)
EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR
Country – Netherlands
Song title – "Amsterdam"
Rendition – Maggie MacNeal (Sjoukje Smit-van 't Spijker)
Lyrics – Alex Alberts
Composition – Frans Smit / Sjoukje Smit-van 't Spijker /
Robert Verwey
Conductor – Rogier van Otterloo (MD)
Score – 5th place (93 votes)
Country – Netherlands
Song title – "Het is een wonder"
Rendition – Linda Williams (backed up by Francis Goya / Cees de Wit / John Sluszny / Miriam Snoek / Titia Dekker) Lyrics – Cees de Wit / Bart van de Laar
Composition – Cees de Wit
Studio arrangement – John Sluszny
Live orchestration – John Sluszny
Conductor – Rogier van Otterloo
Score – 9th place (51 votes)
Country – Netherlands
Song title – "Jij en ik"
Rendition – Bill van Dijk
Lyrics – Liselore Gerritsen
Conductor – Rogier van Otterloo
Score – 16th place (8 votes)
Country – Netherlands
Song title – "Ik hou van jou"
Rendition – Maribelle
Lyrics – Peter van Asten / Richard de Bois
Composition – Peter van Asten / Richard de Bois
Conductor – Rogier van Otterloo
Score – 13th place (34 votes)
Country – Netherlands
Song title – "Rechtop in de wind"
Rendition – Marcha
Lyrics – Peter Koelewijn
Composition – Peter Koelewijn
Studio arrangement – Hans Hollestelle
Live orchestration – Paul Natte
Conductor – Rogier van Otterloo
Score – 5th place (83 votes)
SOURCES & LINKS
- Apart from extensively
surveying relevant written sources as well as using his own previous research
(cp. full list below), Bas Tukker also did interviews with Willy van Otterloo,
Marietje ‘Maribelle’ Kwakman, and Ernő Oláh (all in April 2020), as well as
with Sjoukje van ‘t Spijker (Maggie MacNeal) and Marga Bult (May 2020); and had
an e-mail exchange with Bill van Dijk (April 2020). Thanks to all of them
for their contribution to this article
- A playlist featuring
some of Rogier van Otterloo’s compositions, arrangements, and conducting stints
can be accessed by clicking this YouTube link
- Part of Rogier van
Otterloo’s arrangements for radio and television has been made available digitally
and can be accessed via this link
- Co Berkenbosch (1980), “Johnny Logan verrassende winnaar”, in: De Telegraaf, April 21st, 1980
- Co Berkenbosch (1983), “Wat al jaren sluimert is tot uitbarsting gekomen”, in: De Telegraaf, February 23rd, 1983
- Co Berkenbosch (1984), “Veel onbekend talent in nationale selectie”, in: De Telegraaf, March 14th, 1984
- Hans de Bruijn, “Sponsors krijgen greep op festival”, in: Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, May 8th, 1987
- Peter Contant, “Boycot songfestival was het beste geweest”, in: Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, March 25th, 1987
- Ben Dull & Frits Droog, “Rogier en ‘het mooiste wat op aarde bestaat’”, in: Het Parool, January 19th, 1980
- Henk van Gelder, “Metropole Orkest 60 jaar”, Nijgh & Van Ditmar: Amsterdam 2005
- Jip Golsteijn, “Ik streef beslist niet naar grote bekendheid”, in: De Telegraaf, April 20th, 1973
- Jos Haagmans, “Rogier van Otterloo: Mijn muziek is een verlengstuk van een boterham met kaas”, in: De Waarheid, March 17th, 1973
- Piet Koster (1987), “Van Otterloo blijft bij Metropole Orkest”, in: Het Vrije Volk, September 8th, 1987
- Piet Koster (1988), “Van Otterloo: ambachtsman met muzikaal geweten”, in: Het Vrije Volk, January 29th, 1988
- John van Markwijk, “Rogier van Otterloo – arrangeur, componist, orkestleider”, Stichting Vrienden van het Metropole Orkest: Rotterdam 2011
- Henk van der Meyden (1981), “Liedjes voor Songfestival moeten beter worden”, in: De Telegraaf, August 24th, 1981
- Henk van der Meyden (1988), “Nederland verliest in Rogier van Otterloo (46) een muzikaal genie”, in: De Telegraaf, January 30th, 1988
- Louis du Moulin (1982 02), “Bill van Dijk met ‘Jij en ik’ naar Eurovisiesongfestival”, in: Het Vrije Volk, February 25th, 1982
- Louis du Moulin (1982 04), “Songfestival? ’t Is weer hetzelfde liedje”, in: Het Vrije Volk, April 24st, 1982
- Roelfien Sant (1981 04 02), “Dagboek over Linda Williams”, in: Het Parool, April 2nd, 1981
- Roelfien Sant (1981 04 04), “Jan en alleman vreet uit de festivalruif”, in: Het Parool, April 4th, 1981
- Roelfien Sant (1984), “Herrey’s winnen maar Marietje zit er niet mee”, in: Het Parool, May 7th, 1984
- Bas Tukker (2008), “En de dirigent is… Piet Souer: melodist en ondernemer”, in: EA-Nieuws, 2008-2009, no. 1, pg. 29-39
- Bas Tukker (2015), “Dolf van der Linden – De vader van het Metropole Orkest”, Stichting Metropole Orkest: Hilversum 2015
- Bas Tukker (2017), “Dick Bakker – Achter de schermen van de muziek”, Stichting Metropole Orkest: Hilversum 2017
- Jaap van Wansbeek, “Bach was de mis zelf”, in: Algemeen Handelsblad, August 8th, 1964
- Ferry K. van der Zant, “Wanneer wordt het weer een beetje net als toen? De Nederlandse Nationale finales van het Eurovisie Songfestival. Deel 2: 1981-2005”, Stichting Eurovision Artists: Utrecht 2005
- Anon. (1980), “Ieder orkest
is een ratjetoe van vreemde vogels”, in: Leeuwarder Courant,
February 21st, 1980
- Anon. (1981 03), “Wonderkaarsjes”,
in: Het Vrije Volk, March 14th, 1981'
- Anon. (1981 04), “Linda
Williams gebruikt muziek op band, dirigent Rogier van Otterloo er niet gelukkig
mee”, in: Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, April 3rd, 1981
- Anon. (1983 01), “Nieuw
talent in songfestival”, in: Het Vrije Volk, January
4th, 1983
- Anon. (1983 02), “Achtergrond
uit de machine”, in: De Volkskrant, February 24th,
1983
- Anon. (1984 05 04), “NOS-decor
van half miljoen baart opzien”, in: Limburgs Dagblad,
May 4th, 1984
- Anon. (1984 05 07), “Als
artiest ben je op songfestival vogelvrij”, in: Nieuwsblad van het
Noorden, May 7th, 1984
- Photos courtesy of Bas
van Otterloo, Cees Pels, and Ferry van der Zant
- Thanks to Marc
Bijlsma for providing additional information concerning one of Rogier van Otterloo’s
albums
WEBSITE
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