Overview
- The record collects 12 orchestral pieces composed by Hopkins and released as Life Is a Dream on Decca Classics, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel.
- Hopkins says he has composed since childhood and that many tracks are autobiographical, including pieces inspired by his boyhood in Wales, a work for his niece and songs written for his wife Stella Arroyave.
- Hopkins attended the London sessions and described the two days of recording with Dudamel and the orchestra as "breathtaking," and he says Bradley Cooper helped connect him with the conductor.
- Early reviews treat the project as serious classical work rather than a celebrity vanity project, praising Hopkins’s melodic sense and the album’s traditional, tonal style.
- Coverage notes a factual discrepancy over whether this is Hopkins’s debut album because a 2012 CD titled Composer was issued through Classic FM and one of his waltzes was recorded earlier by André Rieu.