Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
qui tient davantage du face à face d'égos
English translation:
which is/was more like a clash of egos
French term
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: British, Scottish, Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
qui tient davantage du face à face
Is this about depending on strong egos of a singer, rather than from Chamber music itself?
| 4 +8 | which is/was more like a clash of egos |
Tony M
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| 4 +1 | which has rather to do with a clash of egos |
Francois Boye
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| 3 -2 | that keeps the confrontation of two egos under control |
Barbara Cochran, MFA
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May 9, 2020 22:05: Tony M changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1213228">Lara Barnett's</a> old entry - "qui tient davantage du face à face"" to ""which is/was more like a clash of egos""
Non-PRO (1): GILLES MEUNIER
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Proposed translations
which is/was more like a clash of egos
So you can make this as subtle or as obvious as you like... to me 'face à face' definitely implies a not-wholly-constructive 'confrontation'.
As for the tense, I think there's a good case to be made for regarding this FR present tense as a 'narrative present' recounting what seems clearly to have been a past event, whence my suggestion of using a simple past tense in EN.
I'm not a great lover of Duolinguo, but here's an example they give of this same construction, albeit with a very different rendering in EN:
"Elle tient de son père." - Duolingoforum.duolingo.com › comment › El...
"Elle tient de son père." Traduction :She takes after her father.
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Note added at 12 hrs (2020-05-08 08:44:05 GMT)
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Note how in EN we say 'takes after' whereas in FR we say 'tenir de' — literally, 'holds from', but same logic.
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Note added at 14 hrs (2020-05-08 11:17:36 GMT)
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I think it might be better to say 'which seemed / felt more like a..."
| OK, great, thanks. |
| agree |
j1lrh807bkjg
18 mins
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Thanks j1!
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| agree |
philgoddard
: I was thinking "qui" referred to Kissin, but of course it's the "rencontre".
1 hr
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Thanks, Phil!
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| agree |
SafeTex
10 hrs
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Thanks, S/T!
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| agree |
Sheila Wilson
10 hrs
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Thanks, Sheila!
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| agree |
EirTranslations
11 hrs
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Oh hi Beatriz! Thanks a lot!
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| agree |
writeaway
: Not exactly Gerald Moore and Schwarzkopf. Two major soloists attempting to get together for a bit of Lieder, each going their own way musically. She's a Wagnerian soprano and he's a concert pianist. Good luck with that one...
13 hrs
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Thanks! You read my mind: it was exactly they who came to mind when I wrote this; unfortunate (or provocative?) programming, to say the least. I don't see a virtuoso like Kissin in this role at all.
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| agree |
AllegroTrans
: using "resembles" or "resembling" would work well and sound a little more compact
13 hrs
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Thanks, C!
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| agree |
Eliza Hall
20 hrs
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Thanks, Eliza!
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United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
that keeps the confrontation of two egos under control
BTW, I actually came up with this translation before Tony M posted, but had decided to mull it over.
| disagree |
Tony M
: This is exactly the opposite of what it means — the expression in FR is 'tenir de...', which has a totally different meaning from 'restrain'
9 mins
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| disagree |
Rob Grayson
: Unfortunately, this is a total mistranslation.
10 hrs
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United States
An economic geek with social skills
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French to English, Spanish to English, and 1 more.
which has rather to do with a clash of egos
| agree |
Eliza Hall
1 hr
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Thanks!
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| neutral |
Tony M
: A lot better — though the use of 'rather' tends to invite some opposition which in this case is absent in the s/t.
1 hr
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Discussion
Yes, this sounds like a confrontation of egos — two soloists, each eminent in their own right; clearly, Maestro Kissin isn't going to fall back easily into the role of a "mere" accompanist. Sounds a bit like 'Clash of the Titans'!
https://www.opera-online.com/fr/columns/thibaultv/les-lieder...
Lara - please give us as much background information as possible. Thanks!