"The first recording, Most eloquent Music, by the Austrian recorder ensemble Element of Prime invites us to delve into the sonic subtleties of the Elizabethan and Jacobean English repertoire. The title couldn’t be more apt: eloquent, indeed, is this proposal, which speaks with delicacy, yet with a deep and nuanced voice.
Comprising five excellent musicians – Carin van Heerden, Magdalena Rath, Domenika Thanner, Veronika Traxler and Michaela Vaught – the ensemble explores the multiple expressive dimensions of an often dismissed instrumental family: the recorder. In their hands, however, this ancient voice fully recovers its artistic dignity. The fine group cohesion, timbral richness and precise articulation reveal a sound conception that approaches what we might consider the pinnacle of a musical aesthetic based on balance, clarity and beauty."
Carme Miró, Sonograma Magazine
"Element of Prime" is an Austrian five-part recorder consort consisting of Carin van Heerden, Magdalena Rath, Domenika Thanner, Veronika Traxler and Michaela Vaught. The diversity of the recorder family and the resonance of the instruments when played in a consort represents the crowning glory ("prime") of music-making for the five musicians. They share a fervent love of the “Flaute dolce” and founded the ensemble in 2015 at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz. Since then, the ensemble has performed a.o. at the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Porgy & Bess Vienna, the Danube Festival in Strudengau and has appeared on Austrian national radio (Ö1). In 2019/2020 Element of Prime toured Austria as part of the Jeunesse education programme. The ensemble toured South Africa in February 2024 and participated in outreach programs and combined forces with well-known local vocal ensembles. Element of Prime enjoys combining Renaissance music with contemporary works in their concert programs, often with close collaboration with composers. Their first CD entitled “Most eloquent Music” celebrates the English music of William Shakespeare's time and was released in April 2025 (Label Querstand).
Upcoming concerts
9. Juli 2025, 18.00: Heigh ho, holiday
Filialkirche Buchberg
4863 Seewalchen
11. Juli 2025, 19.00: Most eloquent Music
Kloster Seeon, Kirche St. Walburg
https://www.kloster-seeon.de/veranstaltungen/element-of-prime-the-night-watch
14. Juli 2025, 19.30: Most eloquent Music
Schattenburgkonzerte
Feldkirch
https://www.musikfreunde-feldkirch.at/programm
7. September 2025, 17.00: Most eloquent Music
St. Wenceslas Music Festival
Ostrava, Czech Republic
Church of St. Mary Magdalene
https://shf.cz/en/program/
