Is it me, or has Tchaikovsky gone a little out of fashion? Time was when every conductor worth his salt put out a symphony cycle, while discs of the orchestral fireworks were legion. Even in a more crowded field, however, Alpesh Chauhan’s ongoing survey would make its mark thanks to a combination of savvy programming, idiomatic conducting and Chandos’s stellar sonic engineering.

This is the third volume in the series, and by the look of it there could be several more to come. Chauhan continues the trend of performing the warhorses alongside more esoteric fare, with the latest instalment centring on the Second Orchestral Suite – a 40-minute tour de force that is surprisingly rare these days. 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.

Tchaikovsky turned to the idea of the Suite – he ultimately penned four – after the tumultuous self-confessions of the Fourth Symphony. It proved fertile ground, offering an outlet for his creativity, unbounded by the constraints of symphonic form. The Second lacks neither ambition nor melodic inspiration, journeying in five movements from the opening Jeu de sons (Game of sounds) through a graceful Valse, a scampering Scherzo burlesque that prefigures The Nutcracker, a wistful Rêves d’enfant (Child’s dream) and on to a lively Danse baroque that to be honest feels more like a Russian Gopak than anything out of the 18th century.

Chauhan’s approach is spacious, coaxing a rich, warm sound from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and giving each idea time and space to land. That doesn’t mean he lacks drive – elsewhere that’s abundantly evident – but here elegance rules and the listener relaxes at once sensing that they are in the safest of hands. The opening movement – all 12 minutes of it – feels positively symphonic, though Chauhan maintains a crucial lightness of touch. The bubby central movement is perfectly balanced, while his use of rubato throughout is spot on.

The orchestral excerpts from Eugene Onegin – the aching Entr’acte to Act II, the lilting Waltz and the rollicking Polonaise – are differentiated nicely, the music tripping along and the instrumental details nimbly highlighted (there’s gossamer playing from the strings here, while the brass shine in the leaping Polish dance). It’s good to discover the toe-tapping Dance of the Tumblers since The Enchantress is never heard (even though it’s a mature opera, premiering in 1887). Its weight here is tempered by a mood of light-hearted vivacity.

The Storm is not bad at all for 1864. Based on the same Ostrovsky play that would inspire Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová, it intersperses turbulent nature music with folklike themes, including the heartfelt tune that Mussorgsky uses as the basis for one of Marfa’s arias in Khovanshchina. It’s clearly an early work, but Chauhan invests it with sufficient dignity and gravitas to almost convince you of its greatness.

The Marche Slave was dashed off in five days in 1876 to help the Russian Musical Society raise funds to support Montenegro and Serbia’s war against Turkey. It uses three Serbian folksongs yet manages to sound 100 percent Tchaikovsky. It’s an orchestral showcase and Chauhan doesn’t hold back, driving the music onwards while attentive to details that can sometimes get lost in the hurly burly. Like everything else here it’s engineered with a terrific, yet natural depth to the sound, capping another winning disc in this excellent series.

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Composer: Tchaikovsky
Works: Orchestral Works Volume 3
Performers: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Alpesh Chauhan
Label: Chandos CHSA5352 (SACD)