Laurence of Arabia, in my opinion, has a much better theme than Zhivago. However, Zhivago has many more different tracks, all of which are fantastic.

Audacity

They are really two different genres. Epic romance and epic adventure. My loyalty to each could be swayed by how I felt at the time I cast my vote.

Thinking back though, I'd have to say the Zhivago is the better of the two. There is a greater use of leit motif, with a greater variety of themes woven throughout the score.

I love both scores so much but I think I've got to go with Lawrence as edging out Zhivago. Zhivago has the more elaborate writing, but Lawrence means EPIC to me. Both films use their themes a bit too much but that isn't Jarre's fault. He had time constraints on Lawrence and insistent producers on Zhivago. Jarre won Oscars for both of these scores but as Zhivago became the biggest selling soundtrack at that time, Jarre's reputation as a serious composer declined--he was seen as a tunesmith. Producers used Zhivago's success to pressure other composers to write similar scores that could double as score and record seller.

I think these are both great films as well and it's encouraging to know that someone young can still find them great.

But my favorite parts of the Zhivago score aren't Lara's Theme but themes like Revolution and Tonya's Arrival at V.