Jacques Hétu was a firmly established musical figurehead in Canada when he was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to write Symphony No. 5. As a student of Clermont Pépin in Montreal and later of Henri Dutilleux and Olivier Messiaen in Paris, his tonal language bridged the Atlantic, making his choice of Éluard—one of France’s most celebrated poets (and Resistance members)—a natural one. Three short weeks before the symphony’s premiere in 2010, Hétu passed away. Alexander Shelley brings this work back to life surrounded by two great Canadian orchestras, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and a choir, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.