orchestral composers?

Rafe Von Williams, Charles Ives, Francis Poulenc, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, George Whitefield Chadwick, Leonard Bernstein, Randall Thompson, Pierre Boulez, Maurice Duruflé, Arthur Honegger . . . there are literally hundreds whose music you might enjoy . . .

okay, maybe if I give some more examples you can perhaps narrow down the list of suggestions?

here's some stuff I like...
Hans Zimmer
Patrice Deceuninck
Uematsu's - One Winged Angel

Well, Williams The Lark Ascending ascending is a truly moving piece . . . but, you know, you asked for composers, and that is what i gave you, so i don't really feel obliged . . .

Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachiana Brazilieras are excellent pieces, and especially number 5 . . .

By the by, if you like Mozart's Requiem, i strongly recommend his Masonic Funeral Music, i consider it a much more intensely moving piece of tragic music . . .

Thanks Setanta I AM checking out all the composers you listed originally, I just wasn't finding as much of the epic sounding stuff as I was hoping

Thanks for the specific tips too, I will try to check all those out

My pleasure, Boss . . . you know, i didn't mention Jan Sibelius before, because it seemed so obvious, but you might try his stuff . . .

you mention epic sounding stuff, and i immediately thought of Finlandia . . . as well as his Karelia suite . . .

His The Swans of Tuonela is dark and haunting . . . and his seventh symphony is just out there . . .

If you never have, check him out . . .

Ok I've listened to most of this stuff, but it's still not quite right. It's all too low key. Let me explain the reasons why I like the aforementioned music so maybe you can get a better idea what I'm personally looking for at the moment.

Requiem is great because it has the choir screaming for their life, and violins so loud and fast that the strings could be catching fire.

Have you ever heard Cantus by Faith and the Muse? It sounds like ancient spirits singing a chant for the dead, with demons beating giant drums.

Uematsu's One Winged Angel builds up with drumrolls and then unleashes with an angelic chorus which sound like they are singing about the gates of hell being opened into heaven, making me fear that the world is going to collapse around me.

Enigma and Enya in Gravity of Love is another great example. It starts with melodic singing and the echoing of giant drums, and slowly grows in rhythmic intensity, booming with powerful chorus.

Enya in Promentory, this comes blasting in at the end of the Last of the Mohicans, as he flies over the mountain cliffs like the wind. He's ready to die for her, and you know it because the violin is so sad, but the drums are pumping like his heart. He's not running for his life, he's running for hers.

Out of all of these One Winged Angel is probably the best example I think. I want loud, intense, filled with choir, and epic subjects like the clashing of heaven and hell.

I know I'm getting pretty picky here...but it's a certain sound I'm looking for!

Well, you can't expect me to gratify an urge which i do not myself possess . . . here's some thoughts, though . . .

Edvard Grieg, In the Hall of the Mountain King, from the Peer Gynt Suite.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but in particular, the choral arrangement he did of Schiller's Ode to Joy, which invariably accompanies that symphony--lot's of loud caterwauling in German.

Richard Wagner, The Ride of the Valiyries, from the Niebelungen Leid.

Gioachino Rossini, the overture to William Tell (older people will recognize the ending of this as the theme music to the Lone Ranger).

Modeste Moussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain

Petr Illiyich Tchaikovsky, 1812 Overture and La Marche Slave.

These are not necessarily modern composers--but modern composer do not necessarily go in for the sort of bombast it seems you are looking for. At any event, it depends on what one means by modern. Good luck, i'm rapidly running out of ideas.

May I suggest also

Berlioz "Symphony Fantastique" and

Saint-Saens "Danse Macabre"?

Mozart's 40th is moving and intense

and then there's Mendellsohn's Hebrides Overture.

and you could do a lot worse that Rachmaninov's Prelude in C# minor....that is really amazing. If you like Muse you'll like this.

at the other end of the scale, and more modern, is Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

OK stop me now.

Orchestral composers
Give a listen to some of Kieth Emersons compositions. His first piano concerto was on the 'Works" album by Emerson Lake And Palmer. He has gone on to do more compositions since the breakup of the group. I hope you enjoy his music.

Ottorino Respighi's symphonic poem Pines of Rome is one of my all-time favorite orchestral works. Programmatic, but truly deep and compelling...

-m

I've enjoyed his music since the "Nice" days. His version of Copeland's "Hoedown" is wonderful.