Response

Bruce Kushnik, a 25-yr old Cambridge composer and Brandeis grad, was sitting in the Mather House dining hall recently, animatedly explaining his theory of music--the distinction between linear and non-linear perception of time in music, or the structural differences between written forms of music and music conceived without notation.

At one point, Bruce said something outrageously funny to a friend sitting across from him; two undergraduates who had been listening nearby with carefully disguised interest broke into laughter despite themselves, squinting at each other as if to say, "who is this guy?" When Bruce turned to share the laugh with them, they froze and went back to their food.

A moment later, Bruce sat down at the dining hall piano and began to play a rich, gentle jazz tune. Not ten seconds later a house tutor was at his side, requesting that he stop playing until after dinner. Bruce Kushnik is definitely not "cool", at least by Harvard standards, Bruce's friend said.

Kushnik is, however, a self-conscious creator. At a recent recital, Kushnik remarked, "Sounds come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and the function of the composer is to put them together and balance them in order to evoke some response from the listener."

To express the mood or emotional feelings he wishes, Kushnik paints a rainbow of "styles" into his songs--from the satirically self-mocking "A M-pop-hit-single" style of "Electric Eyes of Love" to a surrealist piano accompaniment of a laughing box, called "Opus 354: Sonata for Piano and Laughing Box." Or take the sentimental favorite. "New York City," which consists of three stoccato piano chords followed by a shout of get out of the way, you fuck." Bruce fittingly calls his music "Surrealist Neo-Classic Avant Garde Jazz/Rock and Roll."

At 8 and 10 p.m. on April 25 at the School of Contemporary Music, Kushnik will accompany singer Jeannie Lieberman in four of his songs set to the words of poets Daniel Dern, Gary Mankin, Lewis MacNeice and Sir Walter Raliegh. Lieberman will also sing both her own compositions and those of Rich Johnson, who will accompany her on guitar.