Anthony Hopkins: Life Is a Dream album review – easy on the ear melodies written from the heart
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- Anthony Hopkins releases his Decca debut album 'Life Is a Dream' at age 88, having composed music throughout his life according to the review
- Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Philharmonic's outgoing music director, conducts the album alongside the Philharmonia Orchestra and Bach Choir
- The album's opening Fanfare and March and 'Two Pieces for Orchestra' show a cinematic influence drawn from Hopkins' childhood in Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot
- My Fatherland honors Welsh roots with six traditional tunes, four sung in Welsh, in a style the reviewer compares to the Last Night of the Proms
- '1947: Suite for Orchestra' recalls one of the hottest summers on record, including an unforgettable trip with his father to the Plaza cinema
- Works are dedicated to family members — 'Stella Aria' and the Stanley Myers-inspired 'Farewell My Love' to his wife, and 'Tara' to his niece
- Soloists include Argentinian pianist Sergio Tiempo and Venezuelan cellist Gregorio Nieto, with the reviewer calling the recording 'state-of-the-art'
Why it matters: The album's autobiographical core — a Port Talbot childhood, a Welsh-language Proms-style suite, and dedications to his wife and niece — frames this as a deeply biographical statement rather than a celebrity novelty. Dudamel's involvement as the LA Philharmonic's outgoing music director lends the project genuine orchestral weight, while the Decca label signals Hopkins' entry into the classical catalog on its own terms at 88.
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