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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.

Works for me! Thanks all. I'm now smarter than I was a few days ago. (:

In my case, it's almost purely intuition. Although at certain times a bit of rule following gives a framework for safety, if such a thing is actually possible in music.