Jeffrey SchanzeR Delivers A Beautifully Triumphant Record

A recent release from Jeffrey Schanzer brings about a very unique set of songs put together by Jeffrey but taken from oral testimonies of Jeff's family members.

The Past Is Present is an account of stories from survivors and follows a set of characters, including a father who mourns for the loss of his son, having survived the Holocaust, only to pass away from leukemia after immigrating to the United States. A mother who talks about her running from the Nazi Blitzkrieg of Poland end traveling me United States to get married and have children finally.

The stories go on, and you begin to understand that this record is a record of lives past. Lives that dealt with one of the darkest times in human history, if you ask me.

The Holocaust is something that no one will ever forget, and so many families are still affected by it to this day. The record is like a testament for these people and these stories.

Throughout the record, you have string sections and beautiful operatic style vocals that come through with many levels of intensity, and throughout this, you can hear all the emotion that's just oozing out of every note performed.

There are multiple vocal performances across the record and narration by Jeffrey himself, along with family members Howard Schanzer, Matilda Gruenkraut Schanzer, and Rita Schanzer Scharf.

The stories and descriptions are haunting and eye-opening for many who will listen to this record.

During these narrations, you have beautiful performers attached to each track and a set of instruments ranging from clarinets to cellos, viola, and violin, to name a few. 

This is obviously a record with such a deepening sentiment and incredible understanding of the strife, struggle, and unraveling of people's lives during that time and how it all affected other family members and friends down the line for many, many years.

The performances across the entire record are gorgeous. The violins and violas are so emotional and help really display that pain and understanding throughout certain songs.

I'm sure this was not an easy record to put together, but I think it's outstanding and quite unique that Jeffrey Schanzer, a composer and guitarist for years, was able to put this together with family members and others.

This is obviously, as I mentioned earlier, a sort of testament to the strength of the family, the triumph of personality, the struggles of hardship, and so much more.

This takes a lot to listen to. It is incredibly personal, and the narration and stories told are in-depth, giving you a complete understanding of the feeling, situation, and come along with it.

This will not be easy for everyone to listen to.

For me, listening to this album was like watching a film or reading a book in a sense. The songs obviously connect because the family members do, as do the stories.

When you listen to the full album, you get the complete spectrum of what it's all about and all the stories unfolded in between.

This is a slightly jazz-infused set of classical cantatas.

I found it all to be not only eye-opening, but heavy on the heart at times.

For someone so separated from actual victims of the Holocaust, but obviously knowing a lot about it, this was still something that blew me away in terms of how things were laid out.

The performances, even narration-wise intense at times it all came together beautifully, gracefully, and with a certain level of immense vulnerability and strength that it stays with you for quite some time after you're finished listening to it.

This is for someone who wants to hear these stories. This is something that might shake you and wake you up to real situations coming from real people.

These are parts of their human experience and lives and will never be forgotten, so take a listen to this record, and I'm sure you will be heavily affected by it.

I certainly was.

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