Elena Toponogova in Chichester

 Elena Toponogova, Chichester Cathedral, April 29

One searches the Met Office forecast in vain in search of rain but Chopin's Prelude in D flat is all there is to be had. The Portsmouth-Chichester area benefits from a fine range of local musicians but also serviceable transport connections with London and so Elena Topogonova and others are welcome regular visitors. Soft fell the rain in her 'Raindrop' before modulating into a chillier mood. It's possible that Chopin, like Mozart, is sometimes too easy to like and so doesn't seem quite the equal of Bach or even more 'difficult' composers but his interesting, darker side is never too far away.

Lyadov, in his Prelude op. 57 at least, could almost be 'school of' Chopin with his thoughtful rapture and his Musical Snuffbox tinkled and twinkled in the upper register to charming effect.

More broodingly, the Rachmaninov Musical Moment, op. 5, no. 16, ruminated further and the gentle pace was maintained by Alla Reminiscenza by Nikolai Medtner whose music is a specialist interest of Elena's. Her great delicacy moved towards a moment of epiphany to shift us slightly elsewhere.

These tender pieces were by no means melancholic until Holst's O! I hae seen the roses blaw was distinctly Scottish, for a Cheltenham man, and one felt an awareness of time having passed. To finish, Elena played Three Sketches by Frank Bridge with April evocative - given the clue- of flowers in a meadow, perhaps bluebells or, for all we know, daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze. The Valse Capricieuse was more intricate with a touch of drama but this was a gorgeous programme to soothe and heal with no alarums. An encore of The Angel by Sergei Bortkiewicz fitted entirely with that mood and it would have been a pity to ruin it at that late stage. She returns to these parts soon, to the Menuhin Room, Portsmouth, with Anna Ziman (violin) on May 17th and there is every reason to want to hear that, too. Sumer is icumen in.