In contrast to "muchen morning poem," "treblinka poem" utilizes the deeper more resonant end of the keyboard. Instead of the sharp and clean sound of the previous "poem" here we are given a glimpse of darkness. Judging by the sustain of the sound during the opening the dark has been present for a while and might not be in any hurry to lift. Hearing it I can hear the sense of loss that must permeate any region that played host to a death camp during World War Two, and, before it had even a chance to heal, was immediately swallowed by an equally corrupt regime in the shape of Stalinist Russia.

But Mr. Mortensen brings an element of hope to the poem as near the end of the piece he begins to move up the scale into notes and sounds that are clearer. It's as if maybe the clouds, which have covered them for so long, are finally beginning to lift from the city and the country. As a new generation is born that is untouched by the past and has an opportunity to shape a different future, so the music reflects both a past that should never be forgotten and the hope that it won't be repeated.

While the listener's reactions can't help but be shaped by the feelings they already have for a subject, the music that Mr. Mortensen creates in each of his pieces stimulates those feelings through the emotions that each of them generates. Without his recording of what he felt, and his ability to transmit those emotions so clearly, the listener wouldn't be given the opportunity to explore their own.

In a book of his poetry, Mr. Mortensen referred to what he does with his poems and photography as recording what goes on around him. With Time Waits For Everyone he shows that he's not limited to words and pictures on paper as a means of expressing the record of what he sees around him, and that he's equally capable of doing so with just a piano. Utilizing sound, tone, and even the silences that mark the end of one note and the beginning of the next. he has created a beautiful collection of tone poetry.

Those wishing to purchase Time Waits For Everyone can do so by ordering directly from Perceval Press