At 88, the Oscar-winning actor signs with Decca Classics and unveils “Life Is a Dream”: more than six decades of original compositions, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
It's never too late to chase your dreams: Anthony Hopkins, 88, has signed with Decca Classics to release Life Is a Dream, a new recording project spanning more than six decades of original compositions. The album's tracks were conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Hopkins has played the piano since the age of four. As a teenager, he was already composing music for local plays. The album's first single, “Bracken Road”, is taken from his “1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra”. It was “inspired by childhood memories of Margam, South Wales,” and “paints a nostalgic musical portrait of the streets, meadows, farmlands and mountains that surrounded the family home in the 1940s,” according to the press release.
Other tracks on the album include “My Fatherland”, inspired by traditional Welsh melodies, as well as compositions inspired by cinema, the actor's wife and his niece.
Alongside Dudamel and the Philharmonia, the album brings together pianist Sergio Tiempo, cellist Gregorio Nieto, the Bach Choir and the Boy Choristers of Winchester Cathedral. It was recorded at Alexandra Palace in London in April.
Dudamel said: “Sir Anthony Hopkins is one of those rare artists whose creative voice transcends any medium. The same depth of imagination, humanity and emotional truth that characterizes his extraordinary work on stage and screen inhabits his music. Listening to his compositions, I am struck by their beauty, their know-how and this inimitable wonder that animates them. »
He continued: “Anthony approaches music with the heart of a storyteller and the instinct of a poet, creating worlds of sound that are both deeply personal and universally evocative. It was a privilege to collaborate with him on this recording alongside my friends Gregorio Nieto, Sergio Tiempo and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and to help bring to life the musical voice of an artist whose creativity knows no bounds. »
