Italian Song Medley
Designed by and soundtrack by Paola La Rosa; FireOne firing with ~5250 cues
Full summer weather returned to Montreal for the debut display by the Italian team, though the high heat and humidity caused stress to the meteorological enthusiasts huddled over their radar apps as it looked like two storm cells might interfere with the display. Luck as on the side of the team, as well as the large audience, and the display got off without a hitch, save for the less than ideal wind direction which lead to some smoke coming directly at the audience.
The display was quite different to last week’s Japanese entry, with much more power and a wider use of the firing ramps. The quality of the shells was very good with many tradition Italian specialities such as studatas and other shell-of-shells, together with farfalles and other effects. Whilst the large shells were not as complex as the Japanese, we did see good quality ghost effects as well as huge shells with colour changing pistils where a wave of colour swept over the core in one direction whilst the main layer of stars had the colour change in the other direction.
The shells were well supported by ramp three and particularly by ramp five, which is much closer to the audience. Quite a few times the sky was filled in all directions from the combination of the ramps and the shells above. Nice horizontal firing effects over across ramp three and close to the water were also used quite a few times, as were more serene effects such as fountains. The only nautical effects used were coloured water cakes, fired towards the end of the display. Synchronization was very good throughout the display, especially for the one-shots, but sometimes chains of shells were reluctant to finish firing at the end of a musical segment.
The soundtrack was more enjoyable than I expected, with a good range of styles of music. Quiet pieces were used to good effect during the mandatory laser segments, and these were much better designed (as we expected because the team had worked with the local company) than last week. These segments did allow the smoke to clear, which was fortunate, given the unfavourable wind direction. One downside of the two laser segments, because they were relatively serene, this meant that all of the pyrotechnic segments were either quite or very powerful, giving the impression that there was not as much dynamic range as one might have expected. Hence the overall feeling of the display was that it was full of intensity and without quite enough dynamic range. The quantities of large calibre shells used reinforced this feeling somewhat, though the finale, as expected, rose in intensity to the dramatic climax we have come to expect from Italian teams. Indeed, the intensity was so high that we could not hear the music at all during the final seconds – though I had the feeling that the sound system was not as loud as normal for some reason (even during the introductions before the display). The audience, despite the ringing in their ears, rose to their feet and gave the Italian team a well deserved standing ovation.
As I said to the team afterwards, I believe there is a very good chance they will be on the podium this year – but we still have some strong competitors to come. Already it’s shaping up to be an exciting competition!