“Anthony Hopkins — Composer” shows the actor flexing his musical muscles

A little over twenty years ago, I was talk­ing to Anthony Hop­kins’ then wife about her hopes for a new film which would show her actor hus­band in a very dif­fer­ent light. We’d seen him with Mel Gib­son in The Bounty and in the endear­ing 84 Char­ing Cross Road, but with his Oscar-winning per­form­ance as Han­ni­bal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs his career went into orbit.

Hop­kins is more than an actor, being also an accom­plished painter, and now he is flex­ing his muscles as a com­poser: his disc Anthony Hop­kins — Com­poser will be released mid-January.

The Times’ Emma Pom­fret talked to him; here is a selec­tion from their conversation:

Actor, dir­ector, painter … now musi­cian. How did you start composing?

I play the piano most days if I’m at home [in Los Angeles]. I’ve got a nice Bösen­dorfer. I play Chopin and some com­plic­ated Bach, not to impress any­one but to keep the co-ordination of my hands and my brain as I’m get­ting older. I’ve become very adept at impro­vising — that’s how I compose.

How do you flesh out the melod­ies for orchestra?

When I’m writ­ing on the piano I hear the instru­ments. I go to the stu­dio of my friend Stephen Bar­ton [a soundtrack com­poser] once or twice a week and he has a key­board with all the orches­tral instru­ments. I sit down and put together tracks of how I want it to sound.

You like com­posers from Vaughan Wil­li­ams to Charles Ives … what char­ac­ter­ises your own music?

I always write in F sharp minor — a mel­an­choly key. I love wood­wind, French horn and cello.

Did you hear clas­sical music or go to con­certs as a child?

I remem­ber going to Cardiff in 1955 to hear a great Hol­ly­wood pian­ist, José Iturbi, but there was noth­ing really in Wales.

So piano les­sons were your big musical introduction?

Yes, I learnt the piano from 6. My father also bought me some encyc­lo­pae­dias and in one there was a draw­ing of Beeth­oven sit­ting with his hands over his ears — he was los­ing his hear­ing. I was so impressed by him going deaf and still com­pos­ing, that in my pathetic way I tried to write music.

Is the reward com­par­able with acting?

When I heard the orches­tra I did think, my God, this is my music! It takes your breath away … Let’s say I’m pleas­antly moved.

via The Times