Conductor
Alpesh Chauhan
, from the same Indo-East African background as British prime minister
Rishi Sunak
, won various newcomer awards and has been touted as the next big thing on the podium. This release with the
BBC Scottish Symphony
, where he is the principal guest conductor, marks his recording debut, and curiosity about his talents was perhaps what propelled the album to best-seller charts in the late spring of 2023. Bringing well-known
Tchaikovsky
and some that are not so well known,
Chauhan
shows lots of promise. The best thing is that the
is clockwork perfect in complex scores; the big Allegro of
Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32
, has all the punch it should have, and the Andante non tanto finale of the less-familiar tone poem
The Tempest, Op. 18
, hangs gracefully in the air. Still less common are the two excerpts from the opera
Cherevichki
, which did not have its British premiere until 1993.
wrote it after traveling to Bayreuth to hear
Wagner
's music, and the Polonaise is as close to
as anything he ever composed. The program ends with a bang with
Francesca da Rimini
and opens with the tone poem
The Voyevoda
; throughout,
's tempos are on the slow side, and here and elsewhere, the music sometimes loses energy. However, just as often, details of
's marvelous orchestration are revealed. With fine sound from the Glasgow City Halls, this album stirs the appetite for future releases from
in other mainstream repertory. ~ James Manheim