Sir Anthony Hopkins to release debut album inspired by his childhood

The single, Bracken Road from Hopkins' 1947: Suite For Solo Piano And Orchestra, was influenced by the streets, meadows, farmland and mountains that surrounded the star's family home in the 1940s.

Sir Anthony composed the music in 1963 when he was a young actor at the Liverpool Playhouse.

"Some of these pieces have lived with me for decades and I still find myself returning to them," Sir Anthony said.

"My whole life is a dream," he added, describing signing with the Decca Classics record label as "the honour of a lifetime".

Sir Anthony's music is performed by Grammy Award-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and will reflect on his life growing up in Wales and his family.

He said: "My deepest gratitude and respect go to Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, whose artistry is an integral part of this musical journey.

"With the graceful precision of his baton, he transformed each note with profound and indelible meaning, creating a pictorial landscape that invites the listener to feel and imagine something uniquely personal."

Laura Monks, president of Decca Classics, said the team had been "thrilled" to work with "such a legend".

"There has been a complete energy in the office, everyone buzzing with excitement because we are helping him deliver on a life long dream", she told BBC Radio Wales Drive.

Monks, who witnessed Hopkins recording the albumm said the team had goosebumps on their arms and his "life long knowledge" of classical music was clear to those in the room.

"He was listening to the music intently, he was giving notes, it was just really a special and unique thing to see," she said.

Sir Anthony continues to pay tribute to Wales on another of the album's tracks, My Fatherland.

He said he wrote the piece to "honour my humble beginnings", adding "I am the son of my father, the baker".

Other compositions on the album draw on memories of Port Talbot, childhood visits with his grandfather, the cinema that first caught his imagination, and the people closest to him.

Sir Anthony's portrayal of cannibalistic killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs won him the leading actor gong at the 1992 Oscars.

He went on to star in The Silence Of The Lambs sequel Hannibal (2001) and its prequel Red Dragon (2002).

The actor won a second Oscar in 2020 for his role in Florian Zeller's The Father which also starred Olivia Colman.