What Intense, Good Classical Music Pieces I Can Listen Too?

Montagues and Capulets - Prokofiev Ritual Fire Dance - Manuel de Falla (I recommend the Mischa Maisky version, NOT the piano version) Waltz from 'Maskarade - Khachaturian (gets better as it goes along) Sabre Dance - Khachaturian Piano Concerto No. 1 - Tchaikovsky (a personal favorite) Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 - Liszt NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN - Mussorgsky

Well well well, a fan of huge megalomaniac orchestration - a person after my own heart. Try Shostakovich, particularly the 7th and 5th - they're noisy, but those two in particular have a lot of heart and emotion. Try Beethoven's 9th - Dvorak's 9th is a bit of a tribute to that and the 2nd movement Scherzo has a lot in common with Dvorak's Scherzo. For Mahler - whom I adore - the 9th is probably one of the most miserably unhappy of his symphonies; none of the others are as grim as that one, not even the Sixth, which is called the "Tragic". Try the 2nd, 5th, and 8th (the "Symphony of a Thousand", and one of the most uplifting pieces of music I know). If they're expensive, you might see if your local library has them on CD - they are also of course on youtube. You might like Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - don't be put off by the fact that you've heard O Fortuna a million times; there is a lot more to that cantata than just the opening and closing! You say you don't like piano concertos, but try the Tarantella of Busoni's Piano Concerto - the score has volcanoes on the front. Failing that, for a concerto try Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. And lastly you say you like Firebird - you must therefore also know Petrushka and the Rite of Spring? If you don't know the Rite of Spring - drop everything, rite now (see what I did there), and go and listen to it. It'll blow your brain inside out.