Lara Somogyi: a [time] patterned (NYC premiere)

National Sawdust hosts the New York premiere of a [time] patterned, taken from harpist Lara Somogyi’s latest full-length work: a contemporary harp album constructing sonic environments, exploring how time is felt, shaped, and experienced through sound. Built from harp, pedal textures and electronics, virtuosic arpeggios, stacked tape machines, ambient processing, contemporary extended harp techniques, graphic scored symphonic language, string orchestra, and field recordings, the album constructs time not as a linear experience—but as an emotional landscape.
Through the process of writing, Somogyi found that time is not something she perceives linearly, but sensorially — through patterns, texture, resonance, and subtle shifts in feeling. In this way, the album centers on an idea that soon emerged: music decorates time. Rooted in a classical and symphonic sensibility, the work expands through a contemporary lens, as Lara continues to stretch the traditional forms and shift how harp is heard. A central pillar of the record was to parallel innovative time-based processes into light, exploring how these approaches can shift the way time is perceived through sound. Writing this record opened a door to composing a world through tape loops, delays, granular repetition and glitches in time, through patterns unfolding and refracting upon each other. Rather than leaning on traditional harmonic structure, the music prioritizes tactile form: a sonic architecture where textures carry meaning and rhythm acts as emotional meter.