Provavelmente, o Blue Adept, o segundo da série Apprentice Adept de Piers Anthony. As competições no mundo do Proton são um ponto importante da trama, especialmente a ampla variedade de competições envolvidas. Embora, até onde eu saiba, a competição do dueto naquele livro era de gaita (sendo esse o instrumento favorito do protagonista).
“Precisely. Now if you play a duet with one person, then with another, and your performance stands improved on the second—?”
“Then probably the other player is superior, enabling me to—“ Stile paused. It was beginning to penetrate. “If I improve because of the other player, it’s him that really makes the difference!”
“When we played together, I improved more than you did,” Clef said. “Who, then, contributed more to the joint effort? The one who flew the heights—or the one who lifted him there?”
“That duet—it was not to show individual expertise,” Stile said, working it out. “It was to show cooperative expertise. How each person fit in as part of a team. Yet surely the Computer did not see it that way; the machine lacks the imagination. So it shouldn’t have—“
“The machine was not the final arbiter. The musicians saw it that way, and their vote was decisive.” The human mind remained more complex than the most sophisticated of machines! Of course the musicians had imposed their standard! “So I supported your effort—“