Nocturnal Magic
After a cool dull Spring, Summer officially returned to Montréal with the opening of the 13th International Benson and Hedges Pyrotechnics competition. Under near-perfect skies, the season blasted off to an 8-part display.
Part 1 to the music Lohengrin (Wagner). The display opened with some apparent technical difficulties since there were some long pauses after an initial volley of shells. However, things soon got going with a barrage of gold glitter mines. Above these, shells with small gold stars. These were followed by mines of tourbillons with the same in shells of bright red stars which split into multiple smaller green stars. Then some nice shells with very bright lemon rising tails bursting into silver comets with mines of salutes below.
Part 2 to the music Obertura KV384 (Mozart) and “Poeta y Aldeano” (Suppè). This segment opened with a flight of rockets bursting into go-getters and tourbillons. These were followed with silver comet candles, then gold, then glitter shells and mines with salutes and ending with a huge weeping-willow shell.
Gold glitter candles with tourbillon shells and mines began the next segment. These were followed by gold glitter shells and this sequence was repeated a few times. Then charcoal comets with blue star shells followed by more tourbillon and glitter shells. Then large shells with coloured pistil centres followed by a barrage of brilliant orange mines. The pace quickened somewhat with gold and white shells building to a mini-finalé with a volley of titanium salutes.
Part 3 to the music Apprenti Sorcier (Dukas). This part began with brilliant lemon-yellow comet candles and shells of gold stars with rising tails of the same yellow comets. Dozens of brilliant white flares then burst into life in the lake with rockets and mines of tourbillons. Then white fountains came to life in the water with rockets of go-getters and tourbillons followed by large blue and charcoal shells and shells with pistils. A barrage of mines and then many shaped-burst shells of coloured stars and then screaming tourbillon mines with lemon comet candles. As the pace quickened, large mines blasted out of the lake with multi-coloured shells above. This was repeated with the scale increasing every time until the lake appeared like a battlefield and another mini-finalé.
The next segment began with mines of blue stars and screaming tourbillons. This was repeated with shells of the same and more mines and then shells of the stars which split into smaller stars. This built in scale with a barrage of yellow mines, titanium salutes and a big multi-break mini-finalé
Part 4 to the music Light and Shadow (Vangelis) and Dies Irae (Berlioz). This began with charcoal glitter mines and some fountains in the lake followed by blue star and glitter mines with go-getters and tourbillons above. Then some shaped-burst shells in the shape of a bow-tie with delicate violet stars and mines of the same colour. Then more flares in the lake which turned into strobes while rockets bursting into very slow falling twinkling stars flew above. Then a volley of charcoal glitter shells followed by more gold fountains and then bright silver comet shells. This was repeated and then a large multi-break shell then glitter mines then a huge comet shell.
The next segment began with firefly mines and shells which were repeated until the air was full of twinkling stars. Then a barrage of orange and blue mines with shaped-bursts above in the form of purple hearts followed by glitter comets. This was repeated and followed by a volley of salute mines ending in a huge comet shell.
Part 5 to the music Tannhauser (R. Wagner). This began with glitter mines, violet candles and then blue and gold mines. Followed by charcoal comet candles which got bigger and bigger and then augmented by shells this was then repeated in a brighter glittery charcoal and then a large weeping willow shell. Big fountains then lit up with rockets in white and gold above followed by tourbillon mines, white glitter mines and then blue and gold shells and mines. Next, a barrage of palm-tree shells with the ends turning into blue stars followed by crossette comets in mines and shells leading up to a mini-finalé of the same with bright crossettes.
Part 6 to the music Coral “Fantasy” (Beethoven) and Carmen – Danse finale (Bizet). This began with a barrage of orange mines and tourbillons shells followed by rockets of the same. Then rockets of go-getters, gold glitter shells and titanium salutes. This was followed with big yellow and glitter mines, then bright silver and rockets with the slow-falling twinkling stars. This was repeated, increasing each time until a barrage of gold and blue shells.
Part 7 to the music Gitana Hechicera (Peret) and La Santa Espine “Sardana” (E. Morera). This began with screaming tourbillon shells with violet candles to the left and right in pastel colours. Then bright white shells, glitter mines, blue shells with rising tails and then shaped-bursts in bow-ties, crosses, saturns and stars. This was repeated and added to with shells which produced stars which flashed once brighter than a salute but with no noise. The pace increased as this theme repeated with multi-break shells of go-getters and a mixture of titanium salutes and the bright flash stars ending in a large volley of titanium salutes.
The next segment began with glitter mines, multi-break shells of white comets and shells of blue and gold. This was repeated and added to with crossette candles and very large mines. Then a series of palm-tree like shells which were repeated getting larger and larger with glitter and crackle mines below. The pace increased with large shells with twinkling crackling pistils building to a mini-finalé.
Part 8 to the music Danzas Polovisianas (Borodin). The finalé began with barrage of mines of all sorts with glitter, bright orange stars and comet candles. Above these shells with twinkling pistils, silver comets, tourbillions and multi-coloured stars. The pace kept increasing with more and more shells, some with the bright flash stars described earlier. Huge shells of brilliant silver comets interspersed with titanium salutes were followed by even larger pistil shells of all sorts and then a giant silver spider multi-break shell followed by more titanium salutes. This continued for several minutes when finally the climax was reached with a thunderous volley of giant titanium salutes and silver comet shells. The audience roared and the 1997 competition had begun in earnest.
This was an excellent display, despite some sort of technical difficulty at the start. The pastel colours used were excellent and the synchronization to the music almost flawless.