Now a boyish septuagenarian, the pianist-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy might be said to have led a charmed life. Two homes in Switzerland, two successful musician sons, an idyllic 47-year marriage: not bad. Add a career that has glittered ever since he won the Brussels piano competition at 19. Moreover, as is clear from Christopher Nupen's 1968 film Vladimir Ashkenazy: The Vital Juices Are Russian (reissued this month as a DVD) this modest man has a rare ability as a communicator.
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