Paris explodes with Europe's longest fireworks display

Paris: The baroque style park at St Cloud in Paris is normally a place of calm and tranquillity, but on Saturday (September 12) it erupted into a deafening celebration of music and explosives.

The 18th century cascade there was illuminated by fireworks for two-and-a-half hours, making it the longest firework display in Europe, according to the organisers. Three tonnes of explosives were used in the pyrotechnic extravaganza.

The artistic director Jean-Eric Ougier said the park was made for spectacles as was the fashion under Louis XIV, and that is what he wanted to provide again now.

"We wanted to show that fireworks themselves are enough for a long show, a real big spectacle, so we chose a real duration, two hours like a feature film. We will see if people have had enough, but I don't think so," said Ougier.

The artist said he wanted to make the most of the baroque location for a real "pyroconcert", exploring the lights and the sounds of the fireworks and combining it with the classical rhythms of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Bach and Brahms.

The pianist François-René Duchable was elevated amongst the fireworks on a 12 metre crane at the bottom of the cascade, as he and the piano were surrounded by explosions and smoke, mixing the music and the fireworks physically as well as acoustically.

"It's wonderful, I love the pianist as well, I am very happy to hear him again here, I saw him a lot in Talloires, near Annecy. I love him, I love what he does, and with all these fireworks, it is fantastic," said one spectator, Madame Vera.

Other spectators were slightly put off by the duration and the size of the spectacle - spreading three and a half tonnes of fireworks out over two hours did mean they were smaller explosions of colour, with most people were standing or seated on the ground for the duration.

"It's great, it's magnificent, it's really well done but people aren't really comfortable, that is the reproach I have, another onlooker, Natalie Montagnier, said.

But with 23,000 tickets sold and a positive reaction to the artistic composition, it goes to shows that when it comes to fireworks, size doesn't matter.