When I first started listening to Australian Premières, I asked myself: “Is that real?” Was I hearing a booming and expressive orchestra, or was the sound delivered to me by technological means? I was leaning toward the latter until my suspicions were confirmed via the notes accompanying this album by David Stanhope & his Orchestra.

Three Australian symphonies are presented for the first time; Stanhope’s ethos being to “bring unknown or neglected music to life”. He argues that without this album (and its warm but mildly midi-sounding sample libraries), we’d not have the opportunity to listen. Indeed, we might not – and yet, the Symphony in C Minor by George Marshall-Hall opens this album as ambitiously as any work by a classical master.

The following Peter Tahourdin Symphony No 5 doesn’t flow well from the opening; its wilder dissonances seem out of...