André Rieu - and The Waltz Goes On With Sir Anthony Hopkins

Composed by Sir Anthony Hopkins "I have been writing music and composing for many years, but I never did anything with it – I&wanted to be a musician when I was younger, but I wasn&a good student as a kid, so I just dabbled around and wrote this piece, "And the Waltz Goes On", in 1964. I was watching one of André&concerts on TV, years later, and said to my wife, "I&love to have that waltz played in Vienna." Some time later I got a call from André and he said, "I got your waltz." I said, "What?" He said, "I&just performed it with my orchestra in rehearsal." I didn&know it, but my wife had sent him the score. So in April 2011 I flew to Maastricht and went to his house, where he played the recording – I thought it was beautiful. He named his album after it, too. I was honoured when we took it to play in Vienna, in one of the palaces there, and took my bow afterwards. Did I cry? I don&emotionally respond to things like that. People may cry at the drop of a hat in Hollywood, but I¬ like that. André has all the most unfashionable characteristics: you mention charisma or glamour these days and people&lips curl up cynically, but I like his boundless enthusiasm. He&a showman – he drives 100mph down side-streets, and at his house he has a castle tower in the garden. He has a great rapport with his audiences and plays to huge stadiums of more than 10,000 people around the world, where he gets up on stage with his long hair and he cuts this romantic figure. Purists will...