OPERATION SORET: Audio of the entire "Rêve de France" symphony recovered

We now proceed with the composition of the Symphony written in Stalag 3B by the French composer Maurice Soret

We are proud to announce that Operation Soret has achieved its first important goal : we have rescued and mastered the audio of the entire Symphony 'Rêve de France' written by Maurice Soret in Stalag 3B Fürstenberg an der Oder.

As many now know, the French conductor and composer Maurice Soret wrote a Symphony in Stalag 3B, the score of which has been lost; all that remains is a recording of the work on two Pyral sealing wax discs produced in the last century by Radiodiffusion Française (conducted by the composer himself).

Francesco Lotoro con i due dischi Pyral della sinfonia "Rêve de France" di Maurice Soret

After meticulous preliminary work washing the two discs, stabilizing the work's original speed (technically slowed during the transfer from disc to digital), and attenuating hiss with a thorough denoising process, Tommy Cavalieri—sound engineer and manager of Sorriso Studios in Bari—recovered the full audio. The result is marvelous; the Symphony 'Rêve de France' is truly a beautiful twentieth-century symphony. You can listen to two excerpts from Disc 1 (side 2) and Disc 2 (side 2) in the following video.

As many of our followers will recall, side 1 of the second disc featured a severe scratch; this would have seriously compromised the final recording result; however, thanks to special measures and several irreparably damaged special styluses, the audio on the scratched side was almost entirely recovered except for 2-3 seconds of the original sound, which was lost but easily reconstructed in the score.

OPERATION SORET CONTINUES, so we still need your essential help:

In the coming months , the highly complex phonographic material (for a large orchestra) will need to be composed into a score ; the ILMC Foundation will need to equip itself with high-quality speakers and listening aids that will allow for the detailed reconstruction of the score, down to every note and nuance of its timbre.

Some parts of the recovered audio material have been significantly affected by hiss, in which case it is necessary to proceed with extreme caution when reconstructing the score; in the final phase, the original audio material will undergo further stabilization of pitch and speed, based on indications that will then come directly from the reconstructed score.

We sincerely thank everyone who has already contributed financially to Operation Soret; without their help, it would not have been possible to reach this advanced stage . We therefore invite Friends of the ILMC Foundation to contribute to bringing this wonderful piece of musical literature back to life. We thank everyone, and I mean everyone.

You can send a financial contribution via bank transfer to:

Institute of Concentration Camp Musical Literature

BANK: INTESA SanPaolo BRANCH: 55000 - Fil Centralizzata Terzo Settore IBAN: IT94 Y030 6909 6061 0000 0103 682 swift code: BCITITMM reason: Soret Operation

It is also possible to pay via Paypal by clicking on the following link: https://www.fondazioneilmc.it/sostienici Reason (optional): Operation Soret

Or send a check made payable to:

Institute of Concentration Camp Musical Literature

In this case, please send by registered mail to:

Institute of Concentration Camp Musical Literature

Via V. Marone 38/C - 76121 Barletta (BT) - Italy

The ILMC Foundation will issue a regular receipt.

For any problems, please write to info@fondazioneilmc.it or call/send a WhatsApp message to +39 347 7517282