Emerging composer and singer Will Harmer has transformed the visual fantasia of fireworks into a stunning fantasia in sound, setting Victorian traveller Charlotte Anne Eaton’s gripping account of a stupendous display viewed at Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo. Her first-hand descriptions of innumerable stars and volcanic eruptions are matched by choral writing of tremendous energy, building from the initial explosion through sparks and blazing cascades to an ecstatic vision of fiery serpents and scorpions in the sky. Before and after, the contrast of chemical formula and resulting vivid colour combinations, urgently chanted both in monotone and whispers, heightens the drama and compelling musical alchemy. Fireworks is a stand-out showcase of vocal pyrotechnics for any experienced choir and, from the first hissing fuse to the last whistling Catherine wheel, a brilliant addition to the genre of contemporary musical impressionism.