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Sizzling Sounds from Prague New York
Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
01/26/2026 - & January 20 (Vero Beach), 21 (Gainesville), 22 (Columbus), 23 (Sandy Springs), 24 (Opelika), 2026
Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture, Opus 62
Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Opus 25
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216
Antonín Dvorák: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Opus 88
Blake Pouliot (Violin), Andrew von Oeyen (Piano)
Prague Philharmonia, Emmanuel Villaume (Conductor)
Prague Philharmonia (© Prague Philharmonia Orchestra)
“I am quite a simple Czech musician and, despite the fact that I have moved considerably in great music circles, I still remain what I have always been – a simple Czech musician.”
Antonín Dvorák
“It is not easy to convey...the enthusiasm Prague’s citizens had for Mozart’s music. The pieces which were admired least of all in other countries were regarded here as things divine; and, more wonderful still, the great beauties which other nations discovered in the music of that rare genius only after many, many performances, were perfectly appreciated on the very first evening.”
Lorenzo Da Ponte
On first thought, the program of the Prague Philharmonia was a lost opportunity. After Dvorák and Smetana broke the German music hegemony, Czech composers produced some of the most unique and wondrous artists in Europe, Janácek, Martinů, and Suk are the tip of the iceberg for inspiration.
Alas, for New York audience, more inspiring than familiar.
The 32-year-old Prague Philharmonia eschewed these composers for their single Carnegie Hall concert last night, the single Czech music Dvorák’s second-most-popular symphony. The three other works came the Classical/early Romantic era, hardly rarities in our concerts halls.
For my lukewarm pre-concert feeling, “I was”... (to quote Bogart) “misinformed.” In fact, shattered with the first three notes. The ebullient Chief Conductor Emmanuel Villaume, now in his tenth year with the orchestra, didn’t need a baton. Those three C‑unison chords for Beethoven’s Coriolan were not only shattering, but they introduced an original and ravishing sound.
The secret of the Prague Philharmonia quality was, I felt the quantity. Specifically, 60‑odd players.
Now 60 is too large for a chamber orchestra, too small for a symphony orchestra. So what we had here was an ensemble not only with brilliant consorts (the winds in the Dvorák were like avatars of nature), with high‑energy conducting. Theirs, in fact was tapestry of singular translucence.
Granted, with the Coriolan, some might miss the hundred‑plus players of, say the Berlin Phil. For sheer loudness, that’s true. Yet outside of those three C notes, the Coriolan is lyric, highly thematic and demands clarity. Conductor Villaume gave us all three. This was not Coriolan the tragic, but Coriolan the Romantic.
That was only the beginning. For the next work, I confess it was my first hearing. And what a spectacular Mendelssohn this was. With hardly a moment from sitting down, the Canadian Andrew von Oeyen virtually leaped over the 88 keys. Except for a short Andante, this was spectacular piano‑playing from beginning to end.
Characteristically, Mendelssohn tied all movements together with a trumpet call. Plus, many a measure resonated Midsummer Night’s Dream. Yet this hardly distracted from a circus of 16th and 32nd notes, faultlessly executed. With an orchestra well balanced with the artists.
If that was sheer clean virtuosity, Mr. von Oeyen’s encore Bach arrangement of Marcello’s famed Adagio was an exercise in sensitivity. One asks–in fact pleads–for a full recital here.
Another more familiar concerto was Blake Pouliot’s Guarneri violin in Mozart’s 3rd Concerto. Where Mr. von Oyen appropriately sizzled in the Mendelssohn, Mr. Pouliot was cool, sensitive, near‑gracefully touching the strings in the first two movements. The finale was the classically jocular composer with a delightful folk tune. The long cadenzas in the bookend movements showed his understated perfection.
A. von Oeyen/B. Pouliot (© Marco Borggreve/Lauren Hurt)
Again, we had a familiar encore. The Last Rose of Summer had a reading–first as melody, then with double‑stops–an eloquent in its simplicity as the Concerto.
The major work was of course the Dvorák 8th Symphony. Initially I had been startled by the promotional ad, “The Way Dvorák Should Sound.” Such inanity is inexcusable.
But the performance was indeed caviar (or, for the Czechs, those ambrosial white Bohemian truffles) for the orchestra. Where other orchestras bring out the rich ensemble tapestry, Mr. Villaume allowed us to savor every flute avian trill, the rollicking brass, splendid string playing. This was not a sculptural work: this was painting with every orchestral color.
Added to this a fearless vigor for each movement. If the opening movement was more energy than enlightenment, that was the right prelude for the whole work. If the Adagio was Andante, it was also a joy of contrasts where every measure stood out.
I imagine that no good conductor can fail with the finale. Antonín Dvorák never had to consciously give fireworks at the end. Those endings were organic, the life of his work. Mr. Villaume of course kept a tight musical rein on the Prague Philharmonia, but that vigor, energy, those happily inspired variations showed a composer and an orchestra at the apogee of joy, real joy.
Another encore, the Figaro overture. Mozart loved Prague as he despised his Austrian home town. And Emmanuel Villaume played it with ebullience, devilish tempos and–as with the rest of the program–with personal joy.
Harry Rolnick
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