Players synchronize stopwatches and take a trip, acknowledging each provocation at the exact time as indicated in the schedule. Like the citizens of Copenhagen, the players can take the same trip or different ones, of the same or different durations, starting at the same time or not. Even with the rigid timetable S-tog is still a free improvisation. Players can interpret provocations in any manner and choose to consciously ignore them. But by mapping their improvisation onto a formal temporal scheme, a wrench gets thrown into the worn-out collection of forms.
New forms seem to emerge with unpredictable discourses.
This always produces something really interesting and worthwhile. Usually it produces something regrettable too. At its core, S-tog is more a process of musical exploration than it is a piece of music. I have adapted this piece for a number of different contexts, including a 1993 90-minute solo performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. In this latter performance players moved on and off stage in accordance with the score, and the lighting design was dynamic, itself an interpretation of the score.