Lauten has composed works ranging from operas and theater pieces to orchestral, chamber, solo, and electronic works, many of which employ alternate tunings. She describes the music she has been writing since the mid-’90s (works such as Deus Ex Machina for Baroque Ensemble, Orfreo, Waking in New York, Symphony 2001) as neo-postminimalist. Recordings of her music have been released by o.o. Discs, Nonsequitur, Tellus, Polygram/Point, Lovely Music, Silenzio, Frog Peak, and New Tone.