Frank Lloyd Wright’s remarkable creation Fallingwater has been an icon of architecture and modern design since its completion in 1939. Located on a small river in Western Pennsylvania, it is a harmonious blending of geometric forms with the pristine natural environment. Dramatic cantilevers and stone columns rise boldly from the river, while the building’s interior is serene and steeped in the light and sounds of the forest. My composition, like Wright’s design, attempts to merge the rhythms of nature with the bold ideas of American modernism. The work opens with the river, serene but with a steady and evolving rhythm. As Wright was influenced by Japanese art and design principles, a lyrical melody based on the tuning of the Japanese wind instrument called the shō (笙) emerges from the undulating texture. Utilized in the ceremonial court music known as gagaku (雅楽), the instrument can produce eleven different aitake (合竹) – high tone clusters that interconnect to create an ever-shifting soundscape. These harmonies bear strong similarities to the polychords and quintal stacks of Wright’s musical contemporaries Aaron Copland and William Schuman. My work, divided into seven sections representing the seven cantilevers of Fallingwater, exploits each of the eleven aitake and culminates with a hopefully seamless integration of both Japanese and American harmonies. Each section explores different rhythmic and harmonic variations on the primary melody while referencing the rhythms and textures of gagaku. The work builds towards its climax as the turbulent rhythms of the river (heard in rippling woodwinds) alongside the sharp horizontal and vertical planes of Fallingwater (heard in powerful brass and percussion and using the polychords of Schuman’s George Washington Bridge) are bathed in the orange glow of sunset. As the light fades, so does the view of the house and only the river’s steady rhythm remains. This work was commissioned by the North Hills High School Bands in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as part of their remarkable commission series dating back to 1965. Special thanks to composer Chatori Shimizu and Stanford University for their extensive documentation on the shō and gagaku orchestration.