Pianists: Oh, Vladimir! Oh, Malcolm!

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Pianists Malcolm Frager and Vladimir Ashkenazy have been fast friends ever since 1958, when Ashkenazy made his American debut. Frager was introduced as a magna cum laude Russian student at Columbia, and shy Ashkenazy greeted him like a deus ex machina friend.

Each has made great strides on his own since then; Frager won the Leventritt and Queen Elisabeth competitions; Ashkenazy tied for first in Russia's Tchaikovsky contest. But their letters have dwelt on one remaining ambition: a two-piano recital. This spring Frager went to Russia for a concert tour, and last week the long-planned duet with Ashkenazy finally took place.

The program the two friends chose was full of beauty and hazards: Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos, Schumann's Andante and Variations, the Chopin Rondo for Two Pianos, and the fiendishly difficult Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Through ten days of rehearsals at the Moscow Conservatory, neither could do much but marvel at the other's playing. "I would like to play Mozart as well as Malcolm," Ashkenazy said, drawing a blush from Frager.

"In Schumann," Frager said as Ashkenazy paled in horror, "Vladimir has a way of expressing himself without inhibition."

"No, no!" Ashkenazy cried.

"Nobody plays the Schumann and Chopin more beautifully," Frager insisted.

"Malcolm! What are you saying!" moaned Ashkenazy, drowning in embarrassment.

At the recital, the two myopic friends were worried about missing each other's cues, but throughout their dazzling program neither faltered at all. Ashkenazy played with great excitement and vigor, and Frager—who also charmed the audience with his perfect Russian—was every bit his match. But the thing that made the evening electrifying was the evidence of such joy in music making, the proof of such harmony in friendship.