Maurice Jarre

Maurice Jarre passed away several days ago.  He was famous for being a composer for several film scores including Lawrence of Arabia and A Passage to India.  However, he was probably most famous for writing “Lara’s Theme” from Dr. Zhivago.

Admittedly, I didn’t think much about the story when I initially read it.  However, last week I picked up the CD of Roy Clark’s Live at Billy Bob’s where Roy and his band do a fantastic version of “Lara’s Theme”.  At that point it hit me what a fantastic song it is.  Growing up I heard it a lot, being used in television shows and it seems to be a staple of music boxes.  When you hear something like that so much it’s easy to become number to its quality, maybe even leaning towards dislike if you hear it too much.  

When I heard Roy Clark’s version it hit me that it’s one of those songs that transcends its style.  It’s a fantastic piece of music regardless of who is performing it.

Anyway, here’s the version I heard: