Willem van Otterloo (1907-1978) is best remembered as a conductor of international stature. He began his career in his native Netherlands, conducting the Utrecht Municipal Orchestra in the 1930s and 40s. From 1949-1973 he was the chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague. From this post he built an international career, conducting orchestras around the world and landing other music director positions in Australia, first in Melbourne, then in Sydney. What compositions he left behind largely come from the period before 1945, when he was still firmly based in the Netherlands and had not yet taken off as a conductor.
The Symphonietta for sixteen winds is among those early compositions, dating from 1943. This was a dark time in The Netherlands, which was under the occupation of Nazi Germany with no end in sight. This darkness is reflected in the Symphonietta, especially in its first movement, which alternates between abject despair and pleading desperation. The mood lightens considerably in the second movement, an octatonic scherzo in sonata form. A solo cadenza connects these two movements, as it does the second and the third. Movement three is a quiet, reflective song anchored by D-flat. The fourth and final movement continues after the slightest pause, again lightening the mood with running sixteenth notes on an octatonic scale. It is currently available as a rental from Donemus – you can see a preview of the score there as well. It was also featured as a WASBE Composition of the Week in March, 2021. Here is a good, recent performance of the whole thing: