I had the live recording of "Fireworks" and the actual performance does seem a bit more enthusiastic compared to the one found on the Christus Apollo CD.
I agree. I like the live performance better, but I can't find it online anywhere.
I listened to the Telarc "Fireworks" recording again today, and it is not nearly as bad as I remember. At an elevated volume the recording sounds, maybe not great, but pretty decent. Although. I'm still not crazy about the performance of the work.