The choral composition K'vsh-chu in three movements was commissioned by the Kölner Kantorei for their 50th anniversary. K'vsh-chu is the name of the coastal redwoods in the language of one of the Native Californian peoples, the Tolowa. These huge trees are an integral part of their culture. Thus the composition is based on words in Tolowa, combined with English fragments taken from an article entitled The Rain by Virginia Garland, an example of early nature writing in a Californian magazine from 1908 called Out West. The composition touches on the nature in a redwood forest and its spiritual impact on man.