for Horn and Piano

approximately 6 minutes and 40 seconds

Lagidium was written Fall 2024. It was inspired by a nature documentary featuring the viscacha, an endangered, grey-brown rodent species with short forelimbs, long hindlimbs, and a long bushy tail that lives in the mountains. Lagidium (the mountain viscacha genus) was first observed in 2005 in southern Ecuador, and has since been found in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Western Argentina. Known for its lethargic look (pictured below) and nonaggressive and gregarious nature, Lagidium is a tribute to the animal.

The piece is a musical documentary, outlining an average day of a viscacha – occasionally lively, but mostly grooming, sunning, and feeding on grass. Their habitat, the deep rock crevices and narrow stony tunnels of high mountains and their gait, is outlined from the horn’s line, with beautiful melodic outlines.