1. That there is a tradition in Western thought, stretching back at least to Pythagoras1, that the cosmos is structured according to the principles of musical harmony.

2. That as a corollary of the above, harmony in music is seen as both 'natural' 2 and (ethically) 'good'.3

3. This concept of celestial harmony has been commonly expressed by the metaphor of the 'music of the spheres'4, wherein the planets are associated with specific musical notes or melodic modes.5

15 December 1993

DB: Well... one thing that I wanted to ask about is structured music, does it have a place... What I mean is, I really like a lot of tightly structured music, This Kind of Punishment would be an obvious example. Are they just sort of left-over wishes for some sort of order, or do they have a purpose? Can the structures be fucked with and reappropriated in use against the dominant conception...?