Richard Strauss's 'Eine Alpensinfonie' (An alpine symphony) takes you on a terrific journey. It's scoring is, in one word, immense. Without any vocal parts, it requires an orchestra of 150 members:

• 2 flutes + 2 piccolos
• 2 oboes + cor anglais + heckelphone
• e-flat clarinet, 2 b-flat clarinets and bass clarinet
• 3 bassoons + contrabassoon
• 4 french horns + 4 wagner tubas
• 4 trumpets
• 4 trombones + 2 bass tubas
• (optional offstage band of 12 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones, which makes it 20 horns, 6 trumpets and 6 trombones in total)
• timpani requiring 2 players
• glockenspiel
• bass drum, side drum and cymbals
• triangle, cowbells, tamtam
• wind machine and thunder machine
• celesta
• pipe organ
• 2 harps
• first violins (ideally 18)
• second violins (16)
• violas (12)
• cellos (10)
• double basses (8)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! horns outnumber first violins.

anyway, of late i have discovered the music of Richard Strauss and the Johann Strauss family, though the former and the latter are totally unrelated. Richard for the deep artistic stuff and Johann for the happy things in life.