How closely is music linked to a linear progression of time?

Performance of music clearly takes place within a window of time, but different composers have experimented with different approahces to temporality in music. Some composers use time as a way of building towards a climactic moment, as can be seen in Beethoven's symphonic forms. Others have used time as a medium in which to paint a static picture in music, as opposed to an evolving musical form, such as in some of Stravinsky's music. This question also raises issues of whether performance is integral to a definition of music, and whether a musical work can exist independently of its realisation through time.