Dionne-Brégent -

Dionne-Brégent were a Québécois symphonic/electronic duo that released the 1976/77 Capitol albums ..Et le Troisième Jour and Deux. They specialized in instrumental soundscapes that fused chamber textures with pitch percussion, spacious metal drone, and Berlin-school ambience.

Members: Vincent Dionne (percussion), Michel-Georges Brégent (keyboards)

Background

Dionne-Brégent were a Québécois symphonic/electronic duo that formed in Montréal in February 1975 when percussionist Vincent Dionne teamed with keyboardist-composer Michel-Georges Brégent.

Vincent Dionne was born on January 15, 1942, in Chicoutimi, Québec. His conservatory training ran at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where he studied percussion with Roger Juneau and Louis Charbonneau. In 1968, the Montréal conservatory awarded him the Premier prix de percussion. Dionne played with the Québec, Montréal, and Hamilton symphony orchestras, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the Opéra de Montréal. During summer 1965, he joined the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. During the summers of 1966 and 1968, he played solo percussion with the American Wind Symphony.

The Canada Council sent Dionne to Paris, where he studied percussion with Jacques Delécluse at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de musique during 1969–70. In Paris, he studied electroacoustic composition at the GRM and the American Center electronic studio. He played with the Pas de Loup Symphony Orchestra and the Fernand Oubradous Chamber Orchestra, accompanied Mikis Theodorakis on a European tour, and joined G.I.M.E.P. for Vienna and Hanover concerts. He also worked with Baschet sound sculptures in scores for theater and dance. After his 1973 return to Québec, Dionne composed for dance, theater, and film and joined Raymond Gervais in the Atelier de Musique Expérimental, a Montréal improvised-music group active in galleries and museums.

Michel-Georges Brégent was born on January 29, 1948, in Montréal. He began composing in 1965 with Grande Toccate-Sonate Barbare and the first version of Les Testaments. At the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, he studied with Gilles Tremblay, Jean Laurendeau, Raoul Sosa, and Irving Heller. His keyboard instruments included organ, electric piano, Mellotron, and synthesizer. With his brother Jacques Brégent, he formed Brégent, a group that set French and Québécois poetry to amplified ensemble writing. RCA Victor issued the 1973 Brégent album Poussière des regrets.

Early Activity

In fall 1973, Michel-Georges Brégent moved to Paris on a Canada Council grant. He met Karlheinz Stockhausen, Paul Méfano, and Sylvano Bussotti, recorded a two-piano version of “Geste” with Christina Petrowska for CBC International Service, and worked with Lewis Furey. The Dionne-Brégent partnership joined two Montréal-trained musicians who had also worked inside French new-music circles.

On April 2, 1975, Dionne and Brégent premiered “L’éveil du lieu,” “Présence,” and “…Et le troisième jour” at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Montréal during the New Music of Quebec series. Dionne set regular percussion beside struck objects and auxiliary instruments; Brégent played piano, electric organ, and Moog synthesizer. “…Et le troisième jour” added fourteen anklung players and a short audience-sung phrase to the performance frame.

The Montréal concerts placed Dionne-Brégent between the Québec new-music circuit and the city’s rock audience. Capitol signed the duo in 1976 after their early live dates.

…Et le Troisième Jour

Dionne-Brégent released their debut album, …Et le Troisième Jour [And on the Third Day], in August 1976 on Capitol-EMI.

The album contains two Dionne–Brégent suites: the title sequence on side one and “L’Éveil du lieu” [The Awakening of the Place] on side two. Michel-Georges Brégent works from Farfisa Professional Duo organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Mini-Moog, Orchestron, Moog Taurus bass pedals, Echoplex, and ring modulator.

Vincent Dionne builds the percussion part from mallet instruments, bells, drums, gongs, brake drums, thunder sheet, glass bells, Chinese cymbal, and wind chimes. Pauline Vaillancourt sings the solo voice part. The choir comprises Jacques Lareau, Judith Richard, Madeleine Jalbert, Mary-Lou Gauthier, Nicolas Desjardins, and Yves Lapierre.

“Chant d’espoir” layers a recurring synth theme, gamelan-like struck patterns, male-female choir, and Pauline Vaillancourt’s later soprano entry. “Résurrection” rises from a Mellotron-stained prelude and repeated struck figures into a broad symphonic close. “Possession / Destination” scatters glass-jug and metal-sheet noises over spare organ and synth tones. The remaining side-two pieces thread loops and effects through freer, darker passages.

Et le Troisième Jour:
A1. “L’incarnation” [The Incarnation] (4:55).
A2. “Chant d’espoir” [Song of Hope] (9:21).
A3. “Résurrection” [Resurrection] (6:09).

L’éveil du lieu:
B1. “Possession / Destination” [Possession / Destination] (10:51).
B2. “Choc” [Shock] (0:16).
B3. “Temple du silence” [Temple of Silence] (1:24).
B4. “…Des Cycles et des passions” [Cycles and Passions] (including “Jeux des tensions” [Games of Tensions], “Convergence des jeux” [Convergence of Games], and “Retour du mythe” [Return of the Myth]) (6:29).
B5. “Transcendance du lieu / Délivrance” [Transcendence of the Place / Deliverance] (3:58).

Dionne-Brégent recorded …Et le Troisième Jour at Son Québec, Quebec, in May 1976 with engineer Michel Ethier. The duo produced and arranged the album; Ethier mixed the album with Dionne and Brégent. Christian Julliard oversaw delegated production, and Pierre Dubord directed the sleeve art.

The front cover places a seated child beneath a rectangular seascape photograph with a sea stack, set against a blue-sky and tan-ground image. The back cover presents black-and-white portraits of Dionne and Brégent above percussion and keyboard captions.

Capitol issued “…Et le Troisième Jour” as a one-sided 1976 single on SP-2.

Deux

Dionne-Brégent released their second album, Deux, in October 1977 on Capitol-EMI.

Deux contains four long-form titles. Vincent Dionne wrote “Ouverture” [Overture] and “Transit-Express” [Express Transit]; Dionne and Brégent co-wrote “Le Prophète” [The Prophet] and “Campus.” Brégent expands the keyboard setup with clavinet, sequencer, Oberheim, Mellotron, Leslie-treated effects, and acoustic piano.

Dionne retains the mallet-percussion and drum battery. New players include conga player Pierre Cormier and harpist Margot Morris, plus brass pairs in trombone (J.P. Carpentier, Albert Devito) and trumpet (Guy Archambeault, Denis Lagacé). The string quartet comprises violist Eugène Robitaille, cellist André Migneault, and violinists Johanne Arel and Raymond Dessaint.

“Ouverture” flickers with high synth figures and vocal lines before a symphonic finish. “Le Prophète” enters on wind and atmosphere, then threads a melancholic synth lead through choral accents, piano color, and a late flute-like Mellotron line. “Campus” starts with struck accents and swirling synths, then turns through an acoustic interlude, meter changes, soloing, and a short percussion break. “Transit-Express” accelerates on a sequenced synth pattern and pivots through solo passages and meter changes.

A1. “Ouverture” [Overture] (6:10) – Dionne.
A2. “Le Prophète (Suite fraternelle)” [The Prophet (Fraternal Suite)] (17:47) – Dionne–Brégent.
— a. “Dans la mémoire du temps” [In the Memory of Time] (2:40)
— b. “Évocation de Ré” [Evocation of Ra] (2:57)
— c. “Léthargie” [Lethargy] (1:03)
— d. “Chant fraternel” [Fraternal Song] (2:44)
— e. “Danse françoyse (médiéval électrique)” [French Dance (Electric Medieval)] (1:51)
— f. “Gratte-ciel polyphonique – Postlude” [Polyphonic Skyscraper – Postlude] (6:32)

B1. “Campus” (10:06) – Dionne–Brégent.
Subsections: “Population,” “Plage” [Beach], “Confrontation,” “Pourquoi pas” [Why Not], “Fix,” “Surpopulation,” “Corrida,” “Code-Data,” and “Implosion.”
B2. “Transit-Express” [Express Transit] (9:52) – Dionne.

Dionne-Brégent recorded Deux at Studio Marko, Montreal, in May 1977 with engineer André Perreault. The duo arranged the album and shared executive production with Christian Julliard. Julliard served as delegated producer and mixed the album with Dionne and Brégent.

Marc Desjardins conceived the cover; Guy Hubert and Groupe Graphitti realized the design with photography by François Dumouchel. The front cover frames a park photograph of the two musicians with a child and dog inside a black geometric sleeve layout. The back cover extends the photograph to a lawn and city skyline and places credits in white type.

In 2006, XXI-21 Productions paired both Capitol albums on the two-disc Dionne-Brégent compilation.