I dedicate this work to the musician Rémy Bélanger de Beauport. It does not tell his biography nor a particular moment of his life; it is a piece of music offered as a gift to a friend. But it is also a bit more than that, as the melodic outline of the piece is based on the letters of his name, which gives DEGAB ( pentatonic scale in G). This is followed by an improvised section for the syllable “port ”. Perhaps you will hear his name resonate.

Monnomest was commissioned by Productions SuperMusique as part of its 40th anniversary celebration. The first version of the piece was recorded on April 8, 2021, during a pandemic and thus without an audience, at Le Vivier in the Amphithéâtre of Gesù. On May 23, 2021, the piece had its world premiere at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV), at the Colisée Desjardins in Victoriaville.

Following these concerts, I went back to the drawing board and reworked the piece to deploy its full potential. From 18 minutes, this current version has grown to over 40 minutes and now includes three short sentences provided by Rémy. This recording completes the creation of Monnomest with the Ensemble SuperMusique and I am very proud of it.

— Joane Hétu (translation: Léa Derome)