Absolutely ! Should I add that front-end multichannel reproduction produce less warping of the virtual sources in the sound-stage compared to 2 channels only stereophonic reproduction. Tomlinson Holman have reported this observation in an article entitled "Channel Crossing" (Studio Sound, February 1996 issue) where he briefly wrote about the conclusions of experiments sponsored by the ITU (formerly CCIR) in order to establish its future 5.1 multichannel standard. 4 front-end channels were better than 3 which were better than 2, not taking into account the set-up of surround channels, which were assessed separately, not in conjunction with the front channels.
To place the auditory in the middle of a musical event, be it performed in real life or reproduced through transducers set up arround the listening area, is a possibility to convey an expressive, artistic intention (Xenakis's work Perséphassa, for instance). It's not a mandatory use of multichannel stereo. In fact, there are multichannel recordings where the channels are all front-end.