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I remember hearing Dmitry Lybin play the piano for the first time in
1998, at the ICCF congress in Latvia, and then during the congress of 99 in Switzerland:
every time a strong emotion, for the seeling that he knew how to express himself in every
interpretation, and for the extraordinary technical talent. At that time we barely knew
eachother, maybe because his shy and reserved character never gave me the opportunity to
take to him or maybe because of my reverential fear in comparison to him. Then in october
of 99 we found ourselves together at an invitational tournament, the "Krzyszton
Memorial" where we began to play a very fascinating game by correspondence that is
still running. |
As it usually happens in my "old fashions" game, every post card became
an occasion for brief friendly conversations; so, thanks to the magic effect of our game,
when we saw eachother again at the congress in Rimini it seemed to us that we were old
friends. His coming to Italy took a good three days; the first leg of the trip was by
train from Belarus to the Czech Republic, and then as extremely long journey from there to
Rimini, accompanied by the Czech delegate Jaromir Canibal. Seeing the not-so-rosy
economical situation in Belarus, upon request by Lybin, I reserved accomodations for him
at a little cheap place, but still dignified and not too far from the Congress center.
Dmitry made himself known immediately at the opening banquet by paying a well applauded
selection of classical pieces and as incredible jazz piece that he had composed. |
Concert with a fork and a knife
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But the time he really out did himself was during the trip of the
cenventionists to Urbino and Gradara. During the trip between these two locations, a lunch
was provided at a restaurant at "Passo del Furlo". Dmitry, as always, wanted to
lighten us up a bit with some good music, but unfortunately there was not a single musical
instrument to be found in the restaurant; so, our Lybin without losing his mind-grabbed
some bottles and a set of cups with different shapes, he "tuned" them by putting
them in order of acutness of the note and began to play a small concert with a fork and a
knife on the improvised "keys", first in the general silence of the room then
among the thundering applauses.
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During his stay in Rimini, Dmitry confided in we that it had always been a dream
of his to visit Italy, but he never had the opportunity to do so. He demonstrated to
me a great historic and artistic knowledge of my country that was absolutely
enviable. So, the Friday of the convention, a free day dedicated to the Blitz
tournament, to his surprise and pleasure, I invited him to go on a tourist excursion to
Florence. |
Firenze, "piazzale Michelangelo 28-9-2001: Carlos Cranbourne,
Per Söderberg, Alexandra Flores, Guido Bresadola, Dmitry Lybin |
There were six of us and two cars: mine and that of Guido Bresadola. In fact,
other than me, Guido and Dmitry, there was the Swedish Per Söderberg , Alexandra Flores
(daughter of the Spanish delegate), and the Argentine Carlos Cranbourne. With the luck of
having good weather, that day spent in Florence was an excellent occasion for all six of
us to do an intense tourist pass of the city with an epoch walk begun at "Piazzale
Michelangelo", accross the Lungarno and Pontevecchio (old bridge) and through the
historic center with visits to all of the principle monuments. Finally, we returned to
Piazzale Michelangelo where we had left the cars. |
During the tour of the city, Dmitry was in seventh heaves, he was so
enchanted by the beauty of Florence, that while us common mortals stopped at a refreshment
bar to collect ourselfs and rest our legs a bit, he continued to tour the city saying that
he couldn't waste even a minute of his stay in Florence.
For his return to Belarus, Dmitry was offered another ride, but this
time it would be with the German delegate Fritz Baumbach and his car, up to Dresda and
continning by train to Minsk. Fritz Baumbach didn't leave for Germany until
Monday and so
I was much obliged and ever happy to host Dmitry at my home in Bologna for that weekend.
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Dmitry Lybin a Bologna |
Following great touristic trip to Florence was the guided visit in Bologna on
Saturday, which in a similar manner was a new occasion for Dmitry to deepen his artistic
and historic culture. The funny thing was that he seemed to be the guide and I
seemed to be the tourist. Indeed he demonstrated to know more things about my
city than I did ! With my car I took him to the "Colle della
Guardia" (The watch hill) and to San Michele in the woods. We then visited the
historic center, the university, the municipal theater, the basilica of San Petronio and
all seven churches of Santo Stefano all in one complete round of quite a bit of kilometers
all on foot. Dmitry naturally appreciated it. To finish up the great tour, Dmitry's
last day was a Sunday, I put him on a train from Bologna to Venice early in the morning
and I returned to pich him up at the Bologna station around eight o'clock at night. I
wasn't able to accompany Dmitry to Venice because I had to partecipate in the ASIGC
Assembly in Rimini, besides I didn't know if I would have survived another day of walking
ad Dmitry pace. I found out later that evening that while touring around Venice, Dmitry
had met up with other conventionists and had spent another day of very intense touring
with them.
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Dmitry al pianoforte di
Pietro Cimmino |
Saturday and Sunday evening were special gifts. Dmitry gave my wife and me, along
with several others I had called for the occasion, two magnificent live concerts right
there in our home. The first evening was dedicated almost exclusively to Chopin and other
was a little more varied, dedicated to various composers containing also the repitition of
his fantastic jazz composition, of which I now possess a precious recording on
videocassette. To wrap things up, Monday morning I again accompanied Dmitry to the Station
where he departed for Padova. He had gone there to visit the city, but also it was the
appointed meeting spot with Fritz Baumbach. Naturally, the underlying farewell was:
See you at the next ICCF Congress ! |
Traslation by Elder A.J.Thompson
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints |
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