Anyone know anything about this fellow (1918 - 2000)? A pioneer in the development of electronic and computer music I believe, but I've never come across him...is his work worth pursuing for an aural perusal...?

Hi Biroc,
another short introduction can be gained from composer Newton Armstrong, who you may or may not know, you have to click on 'Writing' then on the "When Music Resists Meaning" HTML link:

http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~newton/

...to which I was also led to the h.brun texts page. Newton teaches at Dartmouth in Hannover, USA, & has worked successfully with, amongst other things, SuperCollider, improvisation & educational projects, (recordings can also be downloaded) making that link interesting to explore around a little.

I'd certainly like to get my hands on the brun book though 

Who you callin' "donkey"?!

CD offers a very fair introduction to Brün. Having begun my studies in composition with one of his philosophical heirs and continued several years later to the overgrown ruins of his once-proud Midwestern compound, please permit me a few thoughts that I hope won't discourage you from investigating him further and forming your own opinions.

The musical world of the twentieth century is full of generalization-loving ideologues, but between the Rockies and the Appalachians, anyway, Brün takes the cake. His flowchart of music, language, and public affairs, which he documented in terms both totalistic and cloyingly mannered, captivated many impressionable young people (many of whom are not so young anymore) and has continued to define, in large part, the creative discourse at the University of Illinois.

His legacy wouldn't bother me so much if I felt that his music were worthwhile. He made several contributions to the theory of electroacoustic and algorithmic musics, but most of the real work was done for him by various underlings. His most famous invention is probably the term "self-appointed moron"–describing a composer, for example, who denies responsibility for tonal implications in his or her music, pleading ignorance–invective which, though satisfying to deploy, is, I understand, more or less representative of Brün's approach to discussing music with students, colleagues, etc.

Sorry if I sound resentful; Brün is kind of a "button" for me. I try to keep him and his tribe in mind as an example of how not to think/talk about music.

Taken together, and despite their rather different slants, Colin's and CD's descriptions of the guy put me firmly in mind of J. K. Randall, at Princeton till his retirement in 1991, and with whom I studied a bit. A guru, cult figure, erstwhile (but latterly decidedly anti) Babbittian, minor pioneer in computer music, 'whacko'. Suffice to say that one 'composition seminar' consisted of us walking in slow motion around campus looking for the painted acorns he had hidden thereon. I learned a lot from him.