In hindsight, I don't suppose that the studio executives who requested a light hearted and salable score for Torn Curtain ever imagined that it would bring to an end one of cinema's finest director/composer relationships. Unfortunately, while Hitchcock and Herrmann were both enormously talented, they also possessed vast egos and held strong views. One can't but help but wish that Hitchcock had taken Herrmann aside and, pinning the blame on the studio, suggested that, on this occasion, he have someone else write the music so as not to compromise the composer's artistic standards. Then again, if it was entirely the studio's fault, it's quite a damning reflection on Herrmann's notoriously poor diplomatic and social skills that he should have been so personally affronted by having his score removed when it so clearly didn't match what was requested. Herrmann only recorded a handful of cues before being removed and the music was only heard later when Elmer Bernstein conducted an almost complete re-recording, but a couple of decades later Varese Sarabande added this complete version to their superb collection of Herrmann re-recordings, under the trusty baton of Joel McNeely.
Had it survived in the film, The Prelude might well have become as well known as Vertigo, North by Northwest or Psycho, a riotously bracing mixture of big brass chords and jagged rhythms. After that point, the tone is reigned in somewhat and the emphasis is more suspenseful and, dare I say it, atmospheric. Of course, Herrmann always keeps things moving, but after the attention grabbing Prelude the pace does slow palpably. The dour mood is occasionally interrupted, The Hotel being the most memorable and about as close as Herrmann was likely to get to the kind of upbeat scoring the studio were after. Although subtly referenced on numerous occasions, the high impact version of the Prelude material is reprised rather sparingly, but when it does appear, such as Hotel Berlin, it injects a much needed jolt of energy. The Killing features Herrmann at his most brutal, although this is far from the slashing horror of Psycho but a frenzy of low end strings and snarling brass. However, the music disappears back into the quieter recesses, with the notably exception of The Corridor, again putting the Prelude material to good use.
Although purporting to be complete, The Bus seems an extremely inconclusive finale; true, films of the era didn't have credits as now, but one suspects that perhaps a brief reprise of the Prelude was intended to close the picture. As it stands, the score seems to fizzle out and it's a few moments before you realise it's stopped playing. For its likely perfection on celluloid, Torn Curtain doesn't make for one of Herrmann's most inspiring albums, if only because it's rather unremittingly bleak and understated. The most memorable passages are largely variations, albeit expertly executed, on the Prelude. The recording has been maligned for its somewhat reverberant acoustic, but cranking up the volume on a decent stereo and the splendid performance of The National Philharmonic is perfectly audible. Yes, it could be a little cleaner and drier, but the results are hardly disastrous. The liner notes provide background to the troubled production and a track by track analysis. Perhaps more important historically than musically, Torn Curtain is nevertheless a score worth investigating and if nothing else, worthy of study as a comparison with John Addison's replacement.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 47:58