Cosmogony, From Darkness to the Big Bang
Designed by Telesforo Morsani, PyroLeda firing using 59 devices with 1238 total cues. ShowSim visualization
Warm and windy weather was the backdrop to the first competitor proper in the special 30th edition of the Montreal International Fireworks competition. Indeed, the winds were a concern as they were close to the limit of 40km/h. Fortunately, the capacity audience were slow in getting to their seats, delaying the start of the display be around six minutes – but these few minutes did allow the winds to diminish somewhat. Despite being directed largely towards the audience, very little debris were received by the crowd.
Reminiscent of their Gold Jupiter-winning 2011 display, it was organized into four sections, with narrations introducing each new part, but done in such a manner as to not interrupt the fireworks. The music was also seamlessly and artistically edited together so there was a continuous flow throughout the display.
The quality of the fireworks was very good, particularly the low-level effects and the studatas, but I found that, sometimes, there was too much mixing of the high-quality Italian shells with less impressive Chinese ones – this might also have been due to the vertical space compression (see below). The nautical shells were also superb, but sometimes were rather asymmetrically deployed across the lake (though perhaps the wind had something to do with this).
At times it appeared that the use of the space was not as great as it could have been, but, in fact, a very wide range of angles and sky positions were used. I think this impression stemmed from the fact that the music was sometimes rather more powerful than the fireworks being used, thus giving the impression the fireworks were less impressive. Vertical space did seem somewhat compressed, but I have a feeling the strong winds blowing towards the audience at high level had a large impact on this.
I enjoyed the soundtrack, but I found it less connected to the theme than was the case with Morsani’s 2011 “Angels and Demons” display. The music was very epic and, at times, there was not quite enough relationship between the soundtrack and the fireworks. All that said, it was very well edited and did bring the display to a dramatic climax, with a thunderous finale that brought everyone to their feet to cheer the Italian team!
The bar in the 2014 competition has certainly been set very high and the Morsani team received a very enthusiast ovation from the audience and also back at the salon des artificiers after the show. There is a lot at stake this year so it’s impossible to make any predictions yet. In an “ordinary” year, this display would most certainly be a contender for a Jupiter!
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