Jarre drew inspiration from Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov to score the film. To give the soundtrack its exotic feel, in addition to a traditional orchestra Jarre utilized a harpsichord, a zither, a koto, two shamisens, a 6-foot gong, a sonovox, a Novachord, an electric piano, and 24 balalaikas;[1] however, since no member of the MGM Studio Orchestra could play the balalaika, Jarre had to recruit players from a Russian Orthodox church in downtown Los Angeles.[4] The Moog synthesizer, which had very recently been invented at the time of the film's release in 1965, was also used by Jarre in composing the soundtrack.[5] In addition to his unique instrumentation, Jarre also utilized a chorus of 40 voices that required 20 microphones and six audio engineers to record the score.[1]
Perhaps the most well-known aspect of the soundtrack is "Lara's Theme". "Lara's Theme" is used as a leitmotif and appears in various sections throughout the film. It was quickly composed by Jarre after it was discovered that a Russian folk song that Lean wanted to include in the film was not in the public domain as Lean had originally thought.[3][6] On Jarre's first attempts at composing a love theme for the film, director David Lean was dissatisfied and instructed Jarre to "Forget about Zhivago; forget about Russia. Go to the mountains with your girlfriend and think about her and write a love theme for her." Lean was adamant that the love theme not be specifically Russian, but rather a universal theme.[5]
Jarre conducted a 110-piece orchestra for ten days to record the soundtrack.[1][7] He finished recording the soundtrack on 14 December 1965, only eight days before the film's world premiere.[4]
The soundtrack debuted at No. 139 on the Billboard 200 on March 19, 1966.[10] It reached the Billboard 200 number-one position on November 5, 1966, almost one year after the film's release.[11] In 2015, Billboard 200 ranked the soundtrack eighth on their "Greatest Billboard 200 Albums of All Time" list.[12] In Canada the album peaked at No. 2, and was in the top 5 for 17 consecutive charts (January 2 - April 29).[13]
Doctor Zhivago is frequently used in competitive figure skating programs. South Korean figure skater Choi Da-bin used a medley from the soundtrack for her free skate at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[15]