Hailstork: A Dundee Fantasee

Hailstork’s 8-minute organ fantasy, with the telling subtitle “Toccata-Humoresque,” is based on the hymn tune Dundee from the 1615 Scottish Psalter. This tune has become most commonly associated with Cowper’s 1774 text “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” believed to be the origin of the phrase “God works in mysterious ways.”  Hailstork has written, “As I searched for a way to set the tune that felt substantial enough for concert presentation, I moved suddenly from a ponderous, solemn approach to a brighter, more humorous one, resulting in this toccata. As the hymn says, ‘God moves in a mysterious way.’”