Forge is a meeting between three heavyweights of the German free-improv scene. Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach belongs to the legendary, pioneer generation of free improvisers in Europe. The recording begins with the 48-minutes of Merge where von Schlippenbach, Schubert, and Blume keep exchanging ideas in an urgent, powerful, and totally democratic manner.

The music flows in a strong, free-associative stream, and each gesture is immediately deconstructed, reconstructed, and morphed into something else before it is abandoned as the trio searches the next challenge. Schlippenbach introduces a lyrical vein spiced with brief quotes from Thelonius Monk and changes the course of the improvisation to a looser and more subtle one, triggering imaginative comments from Schubert and Blume, then Schlippenbach introduces a gentle, melodic theme and instantly Schubert and Blume turn the interplay into a sparse, chamber one, soon to be transformed into a dense and explosive mode, led by Schubert who employs circular breathing techniques.

Schlippenbach takes the lead once more and sets an emotional atmosphere that relies on Monk-ish fragments and concludes this stormy improvisation.

Eyal Hareuveni