It is difficult today to imagine the fame of the duo Vitya Vronsky (1909-1992) and Victor Babin (1908-1972) considered by Newsweek Magazine as "the most brilliant piano duo of its generation".

Born during the Russian Empire, in the Crimea for one and in Moscow for the other, they met in Berlin and married in 1933 while studying with Artur Schnabel at the Musikhochschule. As a composer, Victor followed, like his future wife - who also studied in Paris with Alfred Cortot and Egon Petri - the teaching of Franz Schreker, who was at the height of his art before the fatal arrival of the Nazis.

The couple embarked on a European career as a duo before making their debut in New York four years later. In 1937, Vitya and Victor decided to settle permanently in the United States and became American citizens. From the time of their formation, the duo was noted for its idiomatic and synchronized readings of the works of Rachmaninoff, who became their friend.

Recognized not only as performers but also as teachers, their American life took place first at the Aspen School of Music, where Victor was director from 1951 to 1954, then at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he assumed the same functions, interrupted by his death; for her part, Vitya continued to teach there for twenty years until her last breath. Apart from an interruption during the Second World War, when they were physically involved in the war effort, they performed tirelessly (there were 1200 concerts in the United States alone). Their osmosis is reflected in a stylistically accomplished version of Schubert's Fantasy for Four Hands, which can be viewed on Youtube. In 1995, the release of two CDs (Dante) from recordings made between 1934 and 1945 testifies to their vast repertoire, from Milhaud's Scaramouche to genre pieces such as Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, and Stravinsky's Tango with its implacable rhythm. Creators of Darius Milhaud's Concerto for Two Pianos No. 1 in 1942, proselytizers of Vaughan Williams' Double Concerto, we owe them a recording (for Columbia) of Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos with a clarity that is not at all frivolous, and above all, pages of Rachmaninov that are to be damned (on EMI).

Victor Babin is also distinguished by his gifts as a composer, covering a wide spectrum of music, from chamber music to melodies and repertoire for two pianos. His rich production deserves to be honored, in particular his 2 Concertos for two pianos and orchestra, 3 Concertos da Camera, Three March Rhythms, 6 Etudes, Fantasias on various themes but also a multitude of very successful transcriptions ranging from J-S. Bach and Gluck to Schubert, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, R. Strauss, Khatchaturian, or Stravinsky (with a humorous Circus Polka). A vast field to be rediscovered, of which the duo was the fervent propagator throughout the world.