Hello there, this is Sam and this is episode 102 of the Victor Prep Vocal Podcast and to start off with today I'm going to read a quote from a novel I read recently and the novel is The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. And this, I'm going to read a short section of the book from one of my favorite chapters of the book and the

chapter is called Snow and in this particular chapter the hero of their book which

is this German guy called Ham's Castorpe is lost in the snow and as he's lost he has a sort of

almost near-death experience and he has a bunch of thoughts and

revelations about life and the meaning of life and so on.

And in this near death experience he's in a sort of dream-like state. And so I'm going to read a passage from this

dream-like state that our hero is in. And this excerpt is a little longer, so if you really don't

want to listen for a few minutes, you don't have to skip on if you want. But I really think this is an absolutely beautiful and wonderful piece of writing.

And I strongly recommend you do listen, because it's going to be good. All right, let's get started.

It was a park that lay before him, just below the balcony where he was evidently standing,

a wide luxuriantly green park of hardwoods, of elms, plains, beaches, maples, birches,

with subtle gradations in the colours of the full fresh glossy foliage.

Their tops rustled gently in the breeze,

and the air was perfumed with their delicate moist balm. A warm shower passed over, but the rain was

translucent. You could see high up into the sky, and the air was filled with the glistening rush of ripples.

How beautiful!

Oh, the breath of home, the scent and richness of the lowlands. He had gone so long without it. The air was full of birdcalls,

of dainty, ardent, sweet piping, twittering, cooing, warbling and sobbing, though not a single creature was to be seen.

Hans Kastorpe smiled, took a deep grateful breath, and meanwhile it all turned more beautiful still

A rainbow stretched across a flank of the landscape a strong perfectly formed arch all its moist colours shimmering in pure

splendour and flowing like rich oils into the dense lustrous green. It was

like music, like the sound of hops, joined by flutes and violins.

...