Geoffrey Poole

Geoffrey Poole (b.1949) showed early promise at piano and improvisation. In his self-taught teens he composed numerous tonal sonatas for piano, and chamber ensembles, and attended Proms and New Music events in London.  As an undergraduate at the University of East Anglia his Nonet attracted the attention of Violist Duncan Druce, who contacted The Kings Singers. Poole took up their invitation to compose for them, and Wymondham Chants has remained central to their international repertoire.

Subsequent studies with Alexander Goehr and Jonathan Harvey at Southampton University broadened Poole’s appreciation of “modern music” and he went on to win the Clements Memorial Prize and other awards. After two years of freelancing in Oxford as critic, piano teacher, computer programmer, and Evening Class lecturer for WEA and the Oxford Delegation, he accepted Goehr’s suggestion to undertake doctoral studies at Leeds University, and became a temporary lecturer in 1975. The following year, his Visions for Orchestra was first broadcast, and he was appointed Lecturer and Head of Composition at the University of Manchester. There he remained until 2000 while fulfilling commissions for three quartets and a piano quintet for The Lindsays, Ten for Peter Lawson, works for the Halle, BCMG, Goldberg Ensemble, BBC Singers, RNCM Wind Band music, contemporary-dance, music-theatre, and numerous solo works for John Turner (recorder), Ian Mitchell (clarinet), Jinny Shaw (oboe), and many others.   Two years, 1985-87, were spent in Nairobi where Geoff and his wife Beth Wiseman held lecturing posts at Kenyatta University.

On Poole’s return to the UK, performances, broadcasts and commissions abounded, Sailing With Archangels (a major work in the revival of Wind Bands), the oratorio Blackbird, the second string quartet, African drumming concerto Two-Way Talking, and BCMG’s inaugural commission The Magnification of the Virgin were exceptionally well received.  However, in July 1993 Beth Wiseman was diagnosed with breast cancer, their younger daughter still only six years old. A darkening of tone is apparent in Geoff’s next compositions (Septembral for example) and her renewed brush with death in 2000 called for a quieter lifestyle. Geoff was delighted to accept an appointment at the University of Bristol, and the family settled at Bradford On Avon (home of Geoff’s friend, founder-director of Wiltshire Music Centre, Keith Nimmo).  The BBC-commissioned 24-voice The Colour Of My Song was the last piece composed before his wife passed away in 2007.  When Poole retired from his Bristol professorship at 60, twenty of his composer pupils (from both Bristol and Manchester Universities) presented surprise tributes in the form of piano miniatures (which he performed and later recorded). Poole’s own series of piano miniatures (2001 – 2018) respond to each of the 64 dispositions found in the venerable Chinese “Book of Changes” (I Ching). Poole’s later music tends to explore emotional nuance, notably in the Rhapsody of 2015, a mainstay alongside Beethoven op.96 in several duo recitals given by violinist Madeleine Mitchell with the composer as pianist.

Poole’s compositions (one hundred as of 2022) are admired for their diversity, breadth of vision, and individuality.  About 30 works have received BBC broadcasts (including three extended composer-feature programmes), and many more are represented on twenty commercial CDs and online platforms.