Ricasa (Ricardo Caballer) made its third display in Montreal and this one was, by far, the best of these three performances. Advertised on Ricasa website as a 11,330 pieces extravaganza fired by approximately 9000 cues, that
outstanding show is certainly one of the largest in the history of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition, and presumably a record-breaking display regarding the number of cues. I suspect that achieving a such artistic, physical, and technological endeavor is an exploit, within the constraints of the competition or, maybe, thanks to the opportunities it offers. For sure, it could not be possible without a very ambitious designer, his team and the talented local crew who worked hard and, presumably, had to dealt with active weather conditions a couple of hours before the show.
It is very difficult to know where to begin this review. Let’s start with the theme and the soundtrack. While movies have inspired countless pyromusical designers, this
Cinemagia had a very particular way to tie various types of movie musics, which were far to be randomly selected or oriented toward the most popular. The 14-segment soundtrack evoked successive stages of the early years of life, when all dreams are possible. The introduction narrative gave an overview of the subthemes: “
Dans l’obscurité du cinéma, j’ai cessé d’être un enfant. Je suis un bandit masqué, je suis un héros de fer, un chevalier invincible. Je vais vaincre le mal et conquérir l’amour.” Then, just before the
Alice in Wonderland and
Swing Kids musics, the child age was reflected: “
Sortir du cocon peu à peu pour voir le monde. Je veux grandir, je veux me jeter dans le vide, penser, tomber amoureux, atteindre les limites. Je veux voir la vie!” The issue of identity, similar to those at the core of
Inception and
Avatar, were introduced by these words: “
Qui suis-je? Suis-je celui qui respire maintenant ou une création de mes rêves? Suis-je le présent ou suis-je le futur? Je me découvre à travers mes actes.”. Finally, just before Tchaikovsky’s
Piano Concerto No 1, which has been partially included in several movies through the 20th century, this important last segment: “
Je vais me battre pour mon destin, pour ma liberté, pour mes rêves. Je vais lutter pour moi-même. Que personne ne m’arrête parce que je vais atteindre les sommets!”
I will come back to this ambitious claim later.
These narratives where very short, often accompanied by some pyrotechnic effects, and they help to reveal the meaning of the music choices. While the display began with the introduction quoted above, sequences of comets ending in serpents appeared, avoiding what could have been an anti-climactic opening. There were short breaks between some musics, and nice transitions between others. The mix between the final two parts was especially dramatic : the penultimate part ended with shells of strobes, which seemed to all extinguished exactly as the music stopped; about one second later, the music resumed with the final segment as large shells of comets ending in stars with pistils suddenly burst.
The pyromusical design and the synchronization were excellent, with so many impressive sequences. It began immediately after the introduction narrative, on the music of
The Mask of Zorro, with percussion-synchronized sequences of strobes whose pace quickly increased (presumably requiring to shoot at the hundredth of seconds). The 2nd segment started with a series of 11 effective wheels of gerbs, which extinguished simultaneously. Then, a sequence of six-gerb stars lit up one after the other, on each side of the 3rd ramp, ending quickly with horizontal mines erupting from poles. Then, as the music turned to a series of sounds evoking a chase, we saw an impressive sequence of stars shot vertically along the 3rd ramp, followed by several VERY fast sequences of stars shot following fan patterns, as the sound of the chase gained in intensity, then reached a climax with chases of horizontal gerbs (or short mines?) from the poles along the 3rd ramp.
Later, the "jazz-style"
Swing Kids included note-synchronized gerbs, mines, and meteor-headed comets, each of these types of fireworks being synchronized with different music instruments. I beated the ground with my foot on the music of
It’s Raining Men (thanks God, it wasn’t actually the case), as meteor-headed comets of various colours were fired, with more angled and horizontal patterns of mines and gerbs. On the music of
Avatar, I have been surprised by a mysterious, fast series of strobes which appeared at the mid-level of the display (presumably from some sorts of bombettes hidden by the accumulation of smoke), between shells of strobes above and other strobes along the 3rd ramp below.
The most energetic segments were followed by some serene parts. The
Kiss from a Rose featured several 3-jet fountains on ramps 3 and 5, shells with a flower-shape pattern of stars (i.e., producing five adjacent petals), and nautical flares. The 4th segment, also quiet, included rotating nautical fountains, white double-ascension girandolas, and sequence of gerbs.
The finale was very climactic. In addition to the dramatic transition between the final two segments aforementioned, it featured an accumulation of shells (including shells of dense and multiple crackling and multi-break shells -- or studatas), mines, comets, and a barrage of salutes, which made me scream and apparently ended with the musics, but at this point, it became difficult to hear the soundtrack despite La Ronde powerful sound system. Then, the mysterious strobes appeared at mid-level again as other sounds were heard, followed by an ultimate volley of loud shells and salutes. Once the soundtrack ended, the show came to a close with a surprising signature. Reminding the Pyromagic (Hong Kong) display in 2009, sets of one-shot star projected the letters
MONTREAL in white, one letter after the other, than four sets simultaneously projected
2016 in red. (By contrast, Pyromagic did a similar effect using hand-crafted mines, according to Paul's post in this
thread.) At that time, I wasn’t sure what these effects were (I came close to lost my control owing to the intense finale and it was somewhat difficult to see due to smoke moving toward the audience) but I suspected some sort of characters. There were a lot of hypotheses from fireworks aficionados immediately after the show, but I then realized that these characters appear pretty clearly on my video. The letter
A can be seen on this picture:
I have to say more about the 12th segment on the music of
Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1, which was a great moment of the show, a beautiful achievement that people are going to talk for years to come. From Paul’s interview with Ricardo Caballer, I understood that it would be a note-synchronized piano segment. I immediately thought about other piano segments made by the Italian team Ipon in 1997 and 1998. While they were presented almost 20 years ago, I remember how impressed I felt at the time. In 2007, the German entrant IP also featured a similar concept, with xylophone music and note-synchronized mines. The Caballer’s 4 minutes 55 seconds piano creation had nothing to do with these previous experiences: it was much more sophisticated! First, instead of shooting one type of fireworks devices during the whole piece, Caballer relied on various types of mines, gerbs, stars (which moved with various speeds) and strobes – all of different colours – note-synchronized with the piano; these appeared close to the ground, and their position along the 3rd ramp reflected their corresponding location on a piano. Second, other pyrotechnic effects – comets and shells of various types – appeared above as other instruments were also heard. Some fast pianist’s movement across the piano board were also illustrated with bright chasing sequences of some sorts of effects. This segment was a pure exhibition of the designer’s
savoir-faire.
Furthermore, I believe that the aforementioned narrative immediately before this piano segment (“
Je vais me battre pour mon destin, pour ma liberté, pour mes rêves. Je vais lutter pour moi-même. Que personne ne m’arrête parce que je vais atteindre les sommets!”) mirrored some feelings Tchaikovsky had once he composed that piece. A quick search on
Wikipedia (click here) indicates that Tchaikovsky, who hoped that his piece would be played by Russian pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, was offended by Rubinstein’s criticism who found Tchaikovsky’s creation worthless, unplayable, and beyond rescue. In reaction to Rubinstein’s advice to make some changes to his composition, Tchaikovsky replied “I shall not alter a single note. I shall publish the work exactly as it is!” This is precisely the spirit introduced by this narrative. I also wonder to what extent it also reflects Ricardo Caballer’s own spirit. Unfortunately, I am afraid that most people haven’t discovered this meaning and, to be very honest, I wouldn’t have without some research. (It is the connection between the “identity” narrative and
Avatar which led me to suspect more links between the narratives, the movies and the history of the musics.)
While smoke accumulation prevented us to assess how vivid the colour were, we can say that we saw a great range of colours, as well as very diverse effects. While it is always possible to exhibit a wider range of products, I guess that Caballer had the most diverse arsenal so far this year.
While the 4th ramp was not as heavily used as it was in the American display and that nautical kamuros were not as impressive as other water effects we saw this year, I would say that the Spanish team nonetheless made the most of the firing area. Poles along the 3rd ramp allowed for some very interesting horizontal patterns. I saw a mascletas – or something similar – hanging below the handrail of the 3rd ramp, but it didn’t produce a spectacular effect. It may have been to far from the audience or not powerful enough, but I suspect that it burst during the finale, when we already saw a lot of action.
The poor weather conditions early during the day (see some large puddles across the 2nd ramp on below photograph) likely prevented many potential viewers to attend the show. The crowd was not so large. Nevertheless, the audience gave a sustainable standing ovation to the Spanish team and applaused for about 45 seconds.
As I came back home, I thought how blessed we were to see a such achievement. That level of sophistication could certainly not be possible without the latest firing technologies (it is reported that 15 computers were used to fire the whole show) and experienced people dedicated to work hard.
My ranking so far :
1. Ricasa (Spain)
2. Sugyp (Switzerland)
3. Western Enterprises (United States)
4. Pirotecnia SPA (Chile)
5. Big Bang Fireworks (Canada)
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The third of the “
3S” (Switzerland, Spain and Sweden) is scheduled next Wednesday. This new appearance of Göteborgs FyrverkeriFabrik in Montreal, six years after their last performance, is highly anticipated. The Swedish team is known for its popular soundtracks, razor-style synchronization, and detail-oriented pyromusical design. While some fellow viewers around me kept the Swiss display at the top of their personal ranking, I believe that Ricasa raised the bar. However, I am confident that Göteborgs FyrverkeriFabrik, with its theatrical style, may take up the challenge. The Swedish display may not be as large as the Spanish one, but there is room for a more creative performance.
Fred
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