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1996 l'International Benson & Hedges Montréal Pyromusical Competition Report

Italy Europe Baroque Sunday June 23rd, 1996

Pirotecnica Soldi SRL

Under a clear, cool sky, this display showed just how high-quality Italian fireworks are. Soldi had been unlucky enough to shoot in a thunderstorm two years ago in Montréal but had perfect conditions this year.

The show got off to a magnificent start with many multi-break shells of a type which I think must be typically Italian. This type of shell bursts while at a fairly low alitude but while it is still rapidly ascending into the air. A large number of smaller shells are ejected - of the order of ten or more and then these burst in a sequence of a few seconds. The effect is to fill the air with many spheres of stars. The colours used were particularly vivid with really excellent blues and reds. Many silver comet mines were fired together with a large number of titanium salutes.

The theme of the display was baroque music from different European countries and the fireworks were chosen to fit very well with the music. In between each thematic segement, a volley of the multi-break shells just described would be fired.

There were some really excellent bright white comet shells and some really beautiful shells of very deep blue stars. An interesting effect was that of shells which produced clusters of closely spaced small stars.

Many of the segements of the display had at least three layers. The bottom layer would consist of crossed candles firing either white or gold glitter comets; above this there would be multi-break colour shells and above this gold glitter comet shells.

One particularly interesting effect was a type of go-getter. A shell would break but the stars ejected were dark; after a couple of seconds, bright green stars would emerge which propelled themselves towards the ground in a zig-zag fashion, though not as fast as the more usual type of go-getters.

The climax to one segment was consisted of a great number of gold glitter shells ending in a tremendous volley of salutes.

As the music changed to the serenity of Pachebel's canon, red flares and white strobes were ignited on the ground. Above these a vast number of firefly shells were fired. The effect was incredibly beautiful as the was air filled with slowly flashing stars.

The pace then changed with another multi-layer display. At a low level there were gold glitter comets with salutes at the end; above this brilliant shells of bright blue stars and above this orange charcoal comets with blue stars at the ends of the comet trails. Then there were many bouquet type shells where the burst takes place quite low in the air and the stars form a funnel shape as they rise, like a boquet of flowers. At the end of this segment a huge volley of tourbillon shells and salutes were fired. Especially interesting were bouquet-type shells where the stars changed into tourbillons near the end of their burn.

Great use was made of ground-level effects such as fountains and crossed comet candles. One brilliant device was in the shape of a semicircle. A great number of comets would emerge from every point on the semicircle and form a fan-like pattern across the display site. In keeping with the multi-level theme, above the fan were golden hanging glitter shells and shells with blue stars and tourbillons.

There was a very nice segment which consisted of brilliant yellow star shells with white comet tails. Then the same effect was repeated using green stars with white tails. While this was taking place, on the ground could be seen what looked like horizontal spinning wheels. In fact, these wheels turned out to be girondelas (I'm not sure of the spelling) and after spinning on the ground for a while, suddenly rose in the air to form towers of white sparks. At the top of their flight, the white sparks appeared to form the sides of an opening box and as the box opened, multi-coloured stars were ejected. It was a very impressive sight. Then there was a volley of really big white comet shells.

Yet another multi-layer segment consisted of shellette candles where small stars were delicately ejected in tight bunches out of small shells. Then the candles changed to brilliant white comets with shells of the same above these. Then for the top layer were the multi-break type of shells containing yet more brilliant white comets. By the climax of this segement, the air was filled with the criss-cross tails of white comets.

There was a nice set-piece done in lancework of a horse and cart whilst red flares were burning at ground level. Then a large number of gerbe type fountains were fired with white comets and blue stars above. Then the fountains changed to white, in the shape of multiple fleur-de-lys (since this segment was the music of France). Then the white fountains switched back to the gerbe form and then back to white again. Above this were fired dazzling red and white star shells and at the end of the segment a great number of brilliant mines were fired with golden glitter shells above. The very end of the segment included a large number of salutes which changed into hanging golden glitter fronds which slowly drifted to the ground. The only thing which spoiled this segment was the fact that quite a few of the fountains didn't ignite properly and so the symmetry was spoiled a bit.

The pace quickened with dramatic colour changes from blue to red, then blue, and then red again. Then there were some of the delayed ignition type of stars in red. Then a large number of screaming mines were fired which terminated in very loud salutes. A particularly dramatic part of this segment consisted of gold comets fired vertically from candles and bright blue stars fired almost horizontally. This had the effect of the blue stars criss-crossing while the gold comets formed fan-like shapes. Then above this were fired some very large shells of blue stars, the burst charge being titanium laced and giving the effect of a core of bright white inside the blue sphere of stars. There was also a segment when a great number of whistles were fired.

The finale was incredible. Again a multi-layer approach with white comets near the ground, a thunderous volley of salutes above this and absolutely dazzling white comet shells above this. As the climax approached, the sky was completely filled with absolutely brilliant white comets with a tremendous volley of enormous titanium salutes below. The crowd roared their approval for a very enjoyable display.

However, there must have been one or two technical problems because a few minutes after the end of the display, several volleys of shells were fired. I don't know if these had been forgotten or if they just hadn't gone off when they were expected to.

Overall, I'd rate this display very highly. It was a different approach to the Chinese display but the quality of the colours and effects used were excellent.

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