I started with Music Time Deluxe, and it will meet your requirements. But as in all cut down versions, the limitions have a habit of soon becoming more apparent than the advantages. MTD's big brother is Encore, which in recent years has had a miserable development record. The nearest package to it is those in the Geniesoft stable, Score Writer, and Overture. That is where I have ended up, and very happily. OV4 combines advanced notation with both VST hosting and on score full midi-editing facilities It will automatically play back expressions and allow detailed fine tuning. The price is way below Sibelius and Finale which do not have comparable facilities. To add realism, I recommend you use the German Papelmedia soundfont sample set which, for about 40 euros, gives you a full range of real instrument sounds, plus choir and solo voices. If you want to check out either package, here are the links. http://www.papelmedia.de/english/
http://www.geniesoft.com/