The Limelight Recording of the Month for September comes from Alpesh Chauhan who leads the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Second Suite as well as a handful of orchestral works, several of them intriguing rarities. The program, volume three in an ongoing series, is captured in Chandos Records’ usual outstanding sound.

Clive Paget caught up with the British conductor to ask why we hear less Tchaikovsky these days than we used to; why the orchestral suites deserve to be better known, and why the Russian composer’s remarkably tuneful music requires a special approach.

Has Tchaikovsky always been a passion for you?

For me, Tchaikovsky was the way in. Coming from a home where Bollywood music was always playing – and the scores then were very orchestral – Tchaikovsky didn’t seem too far a stretch. And then hearing Tchaikovsky as a young cellist and the things we were doing in youth orchestra. The colours he uses! Similar to Puccini, the language is so human in many respects. Over the top, yes. And operatic, yes. Cinematic, even in its scope. I fell in love with it completely.

Alpesh Chauhan Alpesh Chauhan. Photo ©...