Our September Recording of the Month is the latest in an ongoing survey of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works – the symphonies excepted – by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under conductor Alpesh Chauhan (Chandos CHSA5352). This third instalment bears all the hallmarks of its predecessors – savvy programming, idiomatic conducting and Chandos’s stellar sonic engineering.

Chauhan keeps it fresh by mixing the warhorses with more esoteric fare, leading off here with the Second Orchestral Suite, a 40-minute tour de force that is surprisingly rare on disc. He follows it up with bonnes bouches from Eugene Onegin, rarities – including a dance from The Enchantress and a student overture, The Storm – and finishing off with the good old Marche Slave.

The Suite lacks neither ambition nor melodic inspiration, journeying in five movements from the opening Jeu de sons (Game of Sounds) to a lively Danse baroque that feels more like a Ukrainian Gopak than something from the 18th century. Chauhan’s approach is spacious, coaxing a rich, warm sound and giving each idea time to land. The Onegin Waltz...