From the mid-80s to early-90s, Hirschfelder became synonymous with many Australian landmark concerts and recordings, including “Whispering Jack” in 1987, the “Classic Jack” Tour in 1988 featuring John Farnham and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the record-breaking “Jesus Christ Superstar” Arena Spectacular in 1992. Also in that same year, David’s debut film score “Strictly Ballroom” garnered a BAFTA award. In 1996 David received an Oscar nomination for “Shine”; and in 1998 a further Oscar nomination, as well as a BAFTA award for “Elizabeth”.

David’s recent film scores include “The Railway Man” (2013) which won AACTA and APRA awards, "The Water Diviner” (awarded FCCA 2014 Best Film Score), and "The Dressmaker”, receiving AACTA and APRA award nominations in 2015.

Other works include “Eternity” for orchestra, choir and 1000 tap-dancers (commissioned for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony), “Mixed Doubles” for string quartet (2004 Adelaide Fringe Arts Festival), and “No More Boomerang” (music composed to a poem by indigenous artist Oodgeroo Noonuccul) for soprano and string quartet, recorded and released in 2018 by Katie Noonan and the Australian String Quartet.

2023 saw the cinematic release of “John Farnham: Finding The Voice”, featuring David’s score and music-direction; an APRA Best TV score nomination for co-composition with son Samuel Hirschfelder for Netflix series “Irreverent”; a body of symphonic arrangements for Russell Morris’ nation-wide series of orchestral concerts; and the completion of David’s score for US/Australian co-production “Sleeping Dogs”, starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan, to be released early 2024.