Mahler's Symphony No. 8, dubbed the Symphony of a Thousand because of the huge size of the orchestra and chorus goes from whisper quiet to a huge blast of sound at the end.  I spoke with a horn player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra who said it is the one piece that made him concerned about damage to hearing as a player.

Almost all large scale symphonic works have so large a dynamic range that they are never recorded with full dynamic range preserved. Recordings have to be made listenable in normal rooms which are noisier than a concert hall, or listenable on a subway train or in cars, etc.  I have a CD by Clarity Records that preserved the dynamic range for Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."  It has warning labels on the cover about how the peaks can damage equipment if the quiet level at the beginning is not set at a very low volume level.

uhm, I'll play. 

A record I've owned in one form or another since around 1972 is Martinon, Paris Conservatory,St-Saen, Danse Macabre- mournful violin, intense dynamic passages, cut on Decca UK- the old London Treasury US copy was a G.B. pressing, pretty cheap, often same dead wax as OG. (Of course, you could buy the Decca and spend money).

Another piece- I like a lot - EMI ASD 3483, Haendal Plays Britten, Berglund, Violin Concertos; well worth the cost of buying a clean copy from the UK (another dark, brilliant violin piece). 

Things to Come, side two, Bliss, EMI ASD will sound familiar--probably one of the great British film scores, which is a story in itself. 

I got a million of 'em. :)

Have fun. 

Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, especially, 4, 7, 8 & 9. Bruckner loved big, loud brass choirs. Barenboim’s performance of the 4th with the Chicago Symphony on DG is a good one. The CSO has a great brass section and Barenboim unleashes them on that recording. The vinyl reissue on DG’s The Original Source series improves substantially on the original release, but it may be out of print by now.

Mahler's 2nd is my favorite symphony. It has everything in it.

+1 Mahler. Symphony 5, 7, 8 

Also check out Kabelac: Hamlet Improvisations for Large Orchestra 

Mahler. Symphony 5, 7, 8

7 and 8 are not my favorites. 6 and 9 are much better. :)