Dana Sandler: “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” (2020) CD Review

Dana Sandler’s new album, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, intrigued me from the moment I first heard about it. I’ve long been obsessed with stories from World War II, particularly about the Holocaust, and on this album jazz composer and vocalist Dana Sandler takes poetry written by Jewish children and young adults who were in the Terezin concentration camp and sets it to music. It is based on a book of poetry and artwork by the same name, which was first published in 1959. Dana Sandler dedicates the album to Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, the woman responsible for preserving the children’s art. She was an artist and educator who organized secret art classes for the children in the concentration camp and saved their artwork and poetry before she herself was sent to Auschwitz, where she was murdered by the Nazis. The suitcases containing the children’s art was found after the camp had been liberated. I have to admit I put off listening to this album for a while because I was afraid it would depress me, and, like most everyone else these days, I’m on the edge anyway. But this music has an uplifting power and effect. The music was composed by Dana Sandler, who also lends her voice to the children’s words. Joining her on this important release are Carmen Staaf on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, Austin McMahon on drums, Peter Kenagy on trumpet and flugelhorn, Rick Stone on alto saxophone and clarinet, Michael Winograd on clarinet, and Rory Sandler McMahon on vocals.  

The album begins with an instrumental piece titled “Dear Pavel,” dedicated to Pavel Friedmann, who wrote the poem “The Butterfly” at the age of twenty-one in the concentration camp. He was born in Prague in 1921, and died at Auschwitz in 1944. This piece features some pretty work on piano, and has a gentle approach, like an arm around our shoulders guiding us through the world. That is followed by Dana Sandler’s delivery of “The Butterfly,” which was written on June 4, 1942. This track is incredibly pretty and touching. Here is a portion of the poem: “That butterfly was the last one./Butterflies don’t live in here,/in the ghetto.” After the war, the poem was donated to the National Jewish Museum.

“Dear Franta” is a very short instrumental piece for Franta Bass, who was only fourteen when he was murdered at Auschwitz. He was eleven when he and his family were sent to Terezin, and there he wrote several poems. Three of those poems are presented on this album. The first two – “Home” and “The Old House” – are presented together. The lines from “Home” can certainly be heartbreaking, but the music has something of an angelic and uplifting quality. “I look toward my home/The city where I was born/City, my city/I would gladly return to you.” One note: in the liner notes, the line is given as “I will gladly return to you,” but she clearly sings “would.” The horns then have a sweet energy, like they could magically lift and carry this child home. The piano again has a pretty sound. That segues into “The Old House,” which is sung by a child, and that child’s voice is unexpected and chilling, for it is an even stronger reminder of what was lost. “Now it is deserted, rotting in silence/What a waste of houses,/a waste of hours.” That is Rory Sandler McMahon on vocals. The third piece by Franta Bass, “The Garden,” is presented as a separate track. This song creates an innocent scene in its opening lines, “A little garden/Fragrant and full of roses,” and you can’t help but consider the incredible contrast between what these children were creating and the harsh world around them. The innocence is soon dispelled by the poem’s final lines, “When the blossom comes to bloom,/The little boy will be no more.” If you weren’t aware of where the poem was written, it is possible you might conclude the idea is that the boy is no more because he is now a man. But we know that is not the case. It is a heartbreaking final line, full of awareness of impending death. Anyone singing of a child’s death is likely to be compelling, but knowing that it was a child writing of a child’s death is almost too much to bear.

“Dear Alena” is a somber, introspective instrumental piece for Alena Synkova-Munkova, one of the few children who actually survived the camp (she died in 2008). This album offers three of her poems. The first is “Untitled,” which actually has a light and joyful sound as it begins, creating a peaceful setting before the vocals begin. “Therefore, I will wait –/until my life’s purpose/is fulfilled/And you will come.” At the end, Dana sings “I must not lose faith/I must not lose hope.” The opening lines of Alena’s second poem, “I’d Like To Go Alone,” are “I’d like to go away alone/Where there are other, nicer people.” Simply stated, certainly, but powerful nonetheless. I love that horn, which rises up as if searching for some other place, some other people, searching for a god to deliver them there. This is surprisingly positive too, with the lines “Maybe more of us/A thousand strong/Will reach this goal/Before too long.” Dana repeats these lines. That’s followed by a change in tone, led by piano, and we feel as if this better place has been found. It almost feels like people dancing at this point. However, Dana then chooses to return us to the beginning, repeating the song’s opening stanza, which feels like she has brought us back to that place they were hoping to escape. Interestingly, she then sings a bit of “Ani Ma’amin,” and the disc’s liner notes provide an English translation: “I believe with complete faith/In the coming of the Messiah, I believe.” “Tears,” the third piece by Alena Synkova-Munkova, is incredibly moving. As Dana sings of tears, I have to hold my own back. “Tears –/inspired by grief/tears/that fall like rain.” I really like the bass work here, that instrument seeming to provide a place for the child’s tears to land where they will not be lost, but instead will be bounce and splash and somehow produce more life.

“Dear Anonymous” is a wonderful instrumental piece that, as you may surmise, is about those children whose names are not known, those young poets who did not sign their work. There is a strong sense of movement to this piece, and so there is hope. The first of the poems is “On A Sunny Evening,” which also expresses hope, both lyrically and musically. It is a celebration of nature, of spring, of life. “I want to fly but where, how high?” And check out these powerful lines, which conclude the piece: “If in barbed wire, things can bloom/Why couldn’t I? I will not die!” The second anonymous piece, and final track of the album, is titled “Birdsong.” The bass begins this song, which also celebrates aspects of nature and has an optimistic quality. There is a gorgeous instrumental section led by piano. The lines “You’ll know how wonderful it is/To be alive” are repeated, as the music builds in power. Then it eases back, and Rory Sandler McMahon joins her to sing those lines again, so we have a blending of an adult’s voice and a child’s voice, a mixing of past and present. And that is how this remarkable album ends.

CD Track List

1. Dear Pavel
2. The Butterfly
3. Dear Franta
4. Home/The Old House
5. The Garden
6. Dear Alena
7. Untitled
8. I’d Like To Go Alone/Ani Ma’amin
9. Tears
10. Dear Anonymous
11. On A Sunny Evening
12. Birdsong/Butterfly Reprise

I Never Saw Another Butterfly is scheduled to be released on April 21, 2020, which is Yom HaShoah.