MovieChat Forums > Billion Dollar Brain (1968) Discussion > Colonel Stok had that Shostakovich symph...

Colonel Stok had that Shostakovich symphony confused w/ a different one


The part where Harry was brought in to the symphony hall, just as the orchestra was finishing up the last moments of a symphony...

Colonel Stok tells Harry, "You know where Shostakovich wrote that symphony? In the heart of Leningrad in 1941. The Germans had cut them off. They were all about to die. It means a lot to us. We don’t forget those times so easily."

That would have been the 7th Symphony, also known as the Leningrad Symphony, which Shostakovich did largely write in Leningrad, 1941, when the Germans had the city encircled.

Only thing is, in the movie, they were actually playing the final seconds of an entirely different Shostakovich symphony, his 11th Symphony (aka The Year 1905, as it was dedicated to the 1905 popular uprising in Russia). Shostakovich wrote that one in 1957.

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The 11th is great! I got to hear it performed live this past year. Stunning!

I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

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