Sir Anthony Hopkins has topped the charts with his new album, Life is a Dream, which realises his lifelong passion for classical music.
The revered Welsh actor achieved the number one spot on the official UK Classical Chart with his Decca Classics record Life is a Dream, released last week.
Performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Life is a Dream was created with music the Oscar-winning star has written across the decades.
He was inspired by memories of his childhood in Wales, family, and the composers he admires most.
“Music was my first desire, my first wish. I’ve been composing music all my life. Some of these pieces have lived with me for decades and I still find myself returning to them,” Hopkins said of the album.
Laura Monks, president of Decca, congratulated the Silence of the Lambs star on his achievement.
“It’s been a dream for the Decca Classics team to work with Sir Anthony Hopkins, Gustavo Dudamel and all those involved in this beautiful record, which reflects a lifetime’s passion and work,” she said.
“We congratulate Sir Anthony on this recognition of his talent as a composer and champion for classical music.”
In support of the people of Venezuela after a series of deadly earthquakes, Hopkins is donating a share of sales from his Life Is a Dream CD and vinyl to the United Nations Development Fund.
Writing for The Independent, Louis Chilton observed there was something “wonderfully, life-affirmingly sweet” about Hopkins’ music, which shifted between “bright, brass-led fanfares to elegant waltzes”.
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“It would be easy to sound patronising about Hopkins’s passion project, were it not for the fact that it is legitimately good,” he said.
“There is more music artistry on show here than in many of today’s charting pop releases – albeit in service of a genre that gets scant shrift in the mainstream.
“Hopkins has a pleasing grasp of harmony and an ear for flighty melody; in the spectrum of classical music, it’s on the more traditional side, absent of the dissonance and tonal complexity that the 20th century brought to the genre.”
Chilton praised Hopkins for demonstrating how “life doesn’t stop when you hit 60, or 70, or 80… there’s always something more to do. There’s always more music, waiting to be played.”
Life is a Dream is out now.