Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It can be infuriating when going to the theatre, in any form or of any size, hearing a superb piece of music which captures the play in all its glory and then realising that you will probably never be able to hear it again unless the company get together and try to evoke the feeling that was hopefully felt by all.

Thanks to the internet that sometimes is possible and when the composer is able to draw upon most of the talent that was on stage on the evening, that comfortable stirring pleasure you felt is more easily handed back to you. For Alex Cottrell and his mini album Untold, that is exactly what you are able to have as he goes back to the studio and be inspired by the music that accompanied the Liverpool University Drama Society’s 2014 version of The Canterbury Tales which was directed by Rio Matchett.

Drawing upon the talent of Dr Sarah Peverley on harp and a choir consisting of Rio Matchett, Shamus Cooke, Katie Overbury, James Rooney, Maeve Sullivan, George Parsons, Madeline Smart, Lewis Smith, Jonny Campbell and Sarah Peverley, Alex Cottrell weaves together Medieval music which framed the spirit of Ms. Matchett’s hugely successful play and which gave each note laid down an enlightened feel which even to those who can’t see past the 1960s for their musical history will surely enjoy.

With five musical pieces on offer, the combination of Mr. Cottrell’s vision, a choir that leaves the breath hanging wonderfully expectant on the edge of the tongue and Ms. Peverley’s harp is as balanced and coherent as you could want from something being recreated and reinvented. With the tracks Sumer is Icumen in, the superb musical metaphor that goes hand in hand with Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale and the brutality of 1478 giving visions to the listener of what England was built upon, it is a challenge well met by Mr. Cottrell and brings home sharply just how good Ms. Matchett’s final directorial show was for the University of Liverpool’s Drama Society was.

The complexity of the work is enjoyable and even for those who feel music was only ever worth talking about once the 60s started, it is well worth a visit into the past, for without the past we have no identity, personally and in art. Alex Cottrell is a man who realises this perfectly.

Ian D. Hall