Halloween is upon us, and I've got something which can match the gloomy atmosphere! And it's not a Namco Original...
Toccata and Fugue and Rock (トッカータとフーガとロック)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All other arcade, Taiko PS2 6, Taiko PSP 2, Taiko Wii 1 | x5 (174) | x7 (326) | x7 (624) | x10 (804) |
| Taiko 0M, Wii U2, 3DS, iOS | x5 (174) | x7 (326) | x8 (624) | x9 (804) |
Taiko 8, 9, 12.5, 13, 0M, Taiko PS2 6, Taiko PSP 2, Taiko Wii 1, Taiko Wii U2, Taiko 3DS, Taiko iOS, CD 2008
143
none
clstocLet's face it: every time someone thinks of horror films (especially the Dracula ones), chances are high that one of the first things that pops out in mind is a grim organ composition that acts as a prelude to the biggest of horrors...
But, not too many people actually know the name of this composition. This song is the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. The creation of the piece is associated with German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750). The actual paternity of this piece was under heavy debate in the 1980s, as no actual manuscript from the composer survived. The only near-contemporary extract of this Toccata and Fugue is an undated copy by Johannes Ringk, another German composer who rewrote the score with unusual score devices for a baroque, such as Italian tempo markings, fermatas and staccato dots.
As the title suggests, the structure of the piece, meant to be played on an organ, consists of a free opening with fast-moving, lightly fingered virtuosity (Toccata), followed by a fugal section in which the subject is being repeated (Fugue), and closed with a short free closing section. Bach's influence on north German music is also recurrent throughout the entire piece. In modern times, lots of new artists pay homage to Toccata and Fugue, such as the arrangement made by the English Classic/Rock fusion band Sky and the transcription for large orchestras made and conducted by Leopold Stokowski for the 1940 Walt Disney film Fantasia.
The Taiko no Tatsujin series features a rock arrangement of the Toccata and Fugue, composed and performed by Masubuchi Yuuji (増渕裕二). Even for a 10-star Oni song of the old generation, Toccata and Fugue and Rock offers a large variety of note patterns, with some very frustrating mid-stream changes of beat signature from 1/12 to 1/16 and back again, a tough balloon note, and some really crazy 1/24 streams involving handswitch. The difficult parts are unable to overshadow the fact that a lot of the chart is made up of consecutive 1/16 clusters at a slow BPM, and so one star was taken out on the transition to the new difficult standard on 3DS. However the Muzukashii chart went up to 8*, and maintains its position as the song with the highest notecount for the Classic genre on that difficulty (even higher than Etude Op. 10-4 and Hakuchou no Mizuumi Ura Muzukashii!)
