Mahler's 1st sympony by the NYPO, conducted by
Leonard Bernstein -- you're going to love it. Personally,
I would recommend staying away from the Beethoven's
5th type things -- you've heard them too much. But --
that's just me. I also recommend Simply Baroque by
Yo Yo Ma, but I prefer the second one to the first. On
the other hand, you said you don't like small string
groups so you might not like that one. I prescribe
Mahler. Lots and lots of Mahler. It fits your description
of big sounding symphonies, his music hasn't been
done to death at weddings and on TV commercials,
it is really great music, and since you probably have a
system geared towards classical, it will make your
system sound great.
Leonard Bernstein -- you're going to love it. Personally,
I would recommend staying away from the Beethoven's
5th type things -- you've heard them too much. But --
that's just me. I also recommend Simply Baroque by
Yo Yo Ma, but I prefer the second one to the first. On
the other hand, you said you don't like small string
groups so you might not like that one. I prescribe
Mahler. Lots and lots of Mahler. It fits your description
of big sounding symphonies, his music hasn't been
done to death at weddings and on TV commercials,
it is really great music, and since you probably have a
system geared towards classical, it will make your
system sound great.