The return of Alpesh Chauhan: fine Tchaikovsky on Chandos

The first disc of Alpesh Chauhn's Tchaikovsky series on Chandos with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra was well received critically, including here at Classical Explorer.

Here's the promo video for Volume Two:

The disc begins with a little-known orchestral work, Fatum, Op. posth. 77, of 1868. Many of Tchaikovsky's fingeprints. The score is headed by lines by Konstantin Batyushkov (later quoted in Queen of Spades):

You know what old Melchisedek said In departing this life:
‘

Man was born a slave

As slave he descends to the tomb Death will scarcely tell him

Why he crossed this arid vale of tears

Why he endured so much suffering

Why he wept, why he vanished.’

The piece is extraordinary, and Chauhan and his forces persuade this listener at least Fatum should find its way to the concert hall much, much more. This “Symphonic Poem for Orchestra” is almost but not quite unremittingly bleak (as its title implies; and we should not forget the importance of the later “Fate” motif, ht descending minor scale, in the composer's last three symphonies).

I have certainly yet to encounter a fully-staged performance of The Opitchnik. But it is good to hear a little here. We are in the ballroom , clearly: this is a wedding (it's actually the fifteenth section of the fourth act), and there is much grace in the dance. A least, that's what Chauhan persuades us. And just listen to the characterful Scottish woodwinds:

The dances act as an interlude between deeper forces. F-Minor glowers in the “Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare's Hamlet,” Op. 67 (1888, dedicated to Grieg). The programming works well: I mention this as the booklet notes (David Nice, an expert in this repertoire, and excellent as always) discuss the pieces out of disc order, with Hamlet much later on.

Tha said, this is a fabulous performance of this again underplayed work. As with Fatum, the piece glowers; but it does so tethered by a tighter structure. The BBC Scottish winds are wonderfully eloquent in this performance, and Chauhan dares to give the music all the space it needs:

I'd just like to add a reminder here of one of the great performances of this work by a conductor who sill does not get quite the credit he deserves: Leopold Stokowski. Here he is, with the “Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York” (the recording was made in 1958):

Chauhan does pinpoint the drama of th better-known Introduction to The Queen of Spades, which is far more than a link to Capriccio Italien. Chauhan also knows how to “stretch” a string theme, to make it yearn on its upwards journey:

Tchaikovsky's Capriccio italien can appearance a pot-boiler, a string of good ones. But Chauhan shapes this performance perfectly, just as he shapes the lyrical themes as so many brush-strokes on a canvas. His sense of dynamic build-up is impressive, too. This is a Capriccio italien that will sit with the best, its combination of exact delivery with zest surely perfect.

Good to see some music from The Snow Maiden here, a subject also tackled by Rimsky-Korsakov. But for Rimsky, it morphed into one of his finest operas (one I have still yet to see on stage ...). Tchaikovsky's music, however, was to Ostrovsky's play. Chauhan persuades us that the lovely tale bought ot the best in Tchaikovsky, too. The Introduction is spellbindingly beautiful (and the is a fine bassoon solo - sadly there is no player list in the booklet):

We've mentioned the descending scale “fate” idea before; here's an instance in the central, suing-only “Melodrama” from the second act here (Andantino quasi allegretto, and Chauhan is one of the ew conductors who gives precisely the impression):

The “Dance of the Tumblers” is a riot, perhaps just a touch studio-bound here, my one and only minor criticism of the entire disc:

This is shaping up to be a series of major importance. I hope to hear Chauhan live soon; in the interim, here Chandos recording will do nicely.

Amazingly, these two volumes appear to be Chauhan's two recordings. Of Indian extraction although born and raised in Birmingham, UK, he is currently Principal Guest Conductor at Düsseldorf and Music Director of the Birmingham Opera Company. He was Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Parma, Italy, from 2017 to 2020 (succeeded by Enrico Onofri).

This Hybrid SACD is available from Amazon here.