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I have never understood how "dead" matter is somehow supposed to spontaneously have become "living" matter with no apparent reason (hell, we need a ton of faith to actually buy that!). But that's another topic. What really interests us is that music, as any form of art and thought, can't just be explained away as pure chemical reactions inside a brain. I'd bet there's a lot more on it than just that.

Composers today, like Takemitsu, may not appear to be adhering to any "theory laws" on the surface, however that doesnt mean it is purely intuitive as well. The music theory you learn in your theory and counterpoint classes are not the end all be all of musical organization. Composers today can make their own rules and guidelines for themselves or for individual pieces. They are also free to break their own rules as they please. When analyzing scores of modern composers, one must keep this in mind and avoid looking at the score the same way they look at a score of Mozart or Bach.

Although there is something to it… Why does minor feel like minor to all of us? Why does a "cry break" resonate with all of us, regardless of our country of origin, as a nostalgic longing for home? (There was a RadioLab episode about that, I believe…) Why does something in 3 just beg to be waltzed to, even if you can't waltz? (Raises hand sheepishly.)

Frankie I really must say that you're insistence that there is a mathematical or scientific way of determining what people love goes against everything I believe. Humanity is more that algorithms and formulas. We aren't living in the Matrix. This is real life and not everything can be explained through empirical means.