![West Side Story [Remaster] on CD by Original Soundtrack](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/8a8/89574585.jpeg "West Side Story [Remaster] on CD by Original Soundtrack")
Composer: James Newton Howard.
Recording information: 2005.
Peter Jackson's KING KONG, released in 2005, is--in a sense--a re-make of a re-make (the 1933 original was first given an update in 1978). Composer James Newton Howard, who wrote the score for the Jackson version, had some big shoes to fill. Max Steiner's score for the original was a groundbreaking achievement, and John Barry's music for the '78 version was dramatic and intense. Howard's score owes not a little to Barry's conception; the soundtrack is full of sweeping, orchestral drama, with plenty of tension and sweet spots to highlight everything that makes KING KONG such an epic tale. As in many film scores, the section titles--"A Fateful meeting," "Captured"--give cues to the on-screen parallels, so that the soundtrack works as a memento for fans of the film, as well as a stand-alone piece of music.
