I need to do some more thinking to come up with my all-time favorite, but I had my playlist on shuffle, and one of my favorite symphonic pieces came up. John Williams - "Born on the Fourth of July" from the soundtrack of the same name. I absolutely love the trumpet and the strings.

I'm looking for more "big" music. What do you consider the most moving and/or beautiful song you have ever heard?

clarification: by big, I mean generally overwhelming emotionally or at least very layered, not necessarily giant symphony blasting away. I'm entirely open to non-symphonic music of all sorts. A few other things I like in the general category, though several aren't on my "moving" list- in no particular order:

• Everwood theme (forgot this one). I went to Park City, Utah and it was gorgeous, had this on and in my head the whole time. This one while not an incredible piece, touches the right places in my memory and I loved Everwood.
• Chevaliers de Sangreal from Angels and Demons
• Now We Are Free from Gladiator
• Coldplay's Clocks and The Scientist
• Metallica's The Ecstasy of Gold from the S&M album.
• I like Edward Higginbottom's version of In paradisium and Agnus Dei Op. 11.
• Brian Eno's "An Ending (Ascent)" from Apollo: Atmospheres & soundtracks
• Ave Maria from the OperaBabes
• I sort of have a thing for some of Ludovico Einaudi's music - first introduced by Stargate Universe with Ascolta on Divinire. Liked some other songs from that show too.
• a fair bit of Battlestar Galactica's soundtrack
• Stargate movie theme
• Sigur Rós' Hoppípolla (thanks for remininding me!)
• Song of Freedom, Songs of Captivity and Freedom, and a Dazzling End from Doctor Who
• Another I remembered - The Dream Academy, Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
• not in my main group, but a favorite of mine for the guitar. Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks - Sirius acoustic live version. There's a spine tingling studio echo in there.

hell I like a lot of music way outside this particular set, but I'm sort going in the vein of stuff I might listen to while thinking or working. please don't let the above limit your suggestions. It amazes my how many songs you all have mentioned I liked or loved and simply forgot with the passage of time. This thread has been great.

I realize we all have different tastes and I thank you for all of your suggestions. I like trying new (or retrying old) things. Obviously I can't reply to everyone and it might get repetitive if I did, but thank you in advance.

edit #N+1: wow- never expected so many replies. I'll be busy listening for days

edit #N+2: front-page? criminy! So many suggestions, thanks, this is awesome! Now where are all those summary bots to help categorize and organize this massive list?

edit #N+3: I posted this below, but I wanted to add... I've listened to tons of classical and love it. When I'm working I have a lot of it on. I have cds full of Yo Yo Ma doing Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, Barber and all kinds of things. I love that stuff, but as much as I love it, for some reason though, some songs move me more than others and a lot of less classical stuff has been associated with me by way of powerful scenes in movies or in life. While there are a few strictly classical pieces that move me, I have more symphonic things that may be less classical and even a few that you might consider modern. Perhaps my problem is a generally bad memory combined with being a movie nut and I've listened to music actively my whole life so maybe I've watered down my recollection a bit too much. More recent works are at the top of the stack. This whole thread is about what moves you, gets you emotional, overwhelms you, makes you think. This was a question and a thread I didn't put a ton of thought into originally and I expected maybe a dozen answers at most, mainly looking for a couple new songs to put on while working today and because I'm a bit sick (just a cold). I turn over new reddit accounts a lot for a fresh start and in a couple years of being here, this is the first time I've gotten more than about 5 replies- let alone 5000+. Rather than edit the above, I chose to let you all speak for yourselves, and you all reminded me of many songs I've "loved and lost". I'll be busy for weeks now.