I think the fact that the OT is uniformly loved has something to do with some here preferring its score to that of the PT. Knowing the context of the music significantly adds to enjoyment. And if we have painful, awkward scenes associated with the music, we will not love it as much.

I can't say I prefer one or the other. The music is about the only thing in the PT I can hold at an equal level with the OT. The music really defines what little I can enjoy from the PT. Some great moments were the arrival on Coruscant in TPM, Dooku's arrival at the end of AOTC, and nearly all of ROTS was well-scored.

The OT music will always be a classic, but I feel it is aging somewhat, especially ANH. I can hardly listen to most of ANH anymore except for the main theme, the Death Star battle, and Leia's theme. ESB has the best music of all the movies to me. There is not a dull track as far as I'm concerned.

I have to say the recordings of the main theme are always better in the OT. The PT recordings sound way too clean and suppressed. As someone said before, there is something raw and primal about it that unfortunately the PT never matches.