Do you know the expression “Second verse, same as the first”? In March 2023, Hilary Hahn played three of the Bach suites for solo violin in David Geffen Hall. Last Saturday, almost exactly a year later, she played the other three.
Don’t be tripped up on terminology: three of the Bach works are called “sonatas” and the other three are called “partitas.” I think we are entitled to call them all “suites,” at least loosely (though musicologists may fight you on it).
My review of Ms. Hahn’s first recital is here. I have nothing else to say, really. “Second verse, same as the first.” I will simply repeat something I said last year: I heard Milstein, when I was young and he was old. He was known as a great Bach violinist, possibly the greatest. I’m glad I didn’t miss him—miss hearing him, in the flesh. But equally, I’m glad not to have missed Hilary Hahn.
In lieu of a review, I would like to devote this half-acre of space to the Avery Fisher Artist Program. (I borrow this phrase from Bill Buckley: “half-acre of space.”) The program is a constituent of Lincoln Center. It is marking an anniversary: its fiftieth.
The program confers two awards: the “prize” (as the program calls it) and the “career grant.” Hilary Hahn received a career grant in 1995, when she was fifteen. In January of this year, she received the prize. She received it on the stage of David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall, but that’s another story) after playing a concerto with the New York Philharmonic (the Prokofiev First).
When the prize was first issued, fifty years ago, it was worth $5,000. Today, it is worth $100,000.
And who was the first recipient? There were two of them: Lynn Harrell, the cellist, and Murray Perahia, the pianist. I don’t know whether each received $5K or $2.5K instead. Either way, that was real money back then.
Avery Fisher had real money. He made a fortune in electronics. And he was a very interesting man, a man of parts. His Wikipedia entry is instructive in this matter: here. Fisher was an amateur violinist and a great lover of music. “Voice was not his thing,” said Mary Lou Falcone, in an interview for an oral history of the artist program. (More on her in a moment.) He liked instrumental music. So, his awards are given to instrumentalists, plus chamber groups.
He was not keen on competitions—musical competitions. He thought they did not go with art. Let me quote a paragraph from a program press release:
The Avery Fisher Artist Program was the first major award program in the U.S. (and possibly in the world) that was not competition based. Young artists are observed over time and artistic merit is evaluated based on a body of work, not judged on a command performance at one moment in time. This distinction was of utmost importance to Avery Fisher when he set up the “rules” for the program he envisioned 50 years ago to nurture musicians. Artists do not know they are being considered and news of the award comes as a complete surprise (applies to both the Prize and the Career Grant).
Mary Lou Falcone oversaw the program from 1981 to 2016. Its executive director now is Véronique Firkusny (daughter of the great pianist Rudolf). I doubt there are two more admired people in the music business (including by me).
I will quote once more from Ms. Falcone’s oral-history interview: Avery Fisher “was a brilliant mentor.” He “was a man of great intelligence. He was a man of extraordinary principle. And he loved music beyond measure.”
And he put his money where his heart was. A sterling life, Avery Fisher’s.