Review: Lexus Song Quest Finals at Auckland Town Hall

Soprano Aivale Cole had been a Lexus finalist in 2007.

There was no stopping the irrepressible Aivale Cole, striding through the ranks of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to the stirring introduction to Verdi's Ritorna vincitor. The Verdi showstopper secured the soprano a clear win in this year's Lexus Song Quest, consolidating on her resplendent Strauss (Es Gibt ein Reich from Ariadne auf Naxos) and the spirited John Carter spiritual she and pianist Terence Dennis offered alongside the Brahms and Britten of her competitors.

Cole had been a 2007 Lexus finalist, as had runner-up Wade Kernot. Best on the operatic side, including a stoic, moving Ella giammai m'amo from Don Carlo, Kernot's Brahms Lied suffered from the same challenged tonal palette that we heard two years ago.

Julia Booth's third place was won with more consistent singing. Britten's A Poison Tree thrilled with its passion and fire; Booth effortlessly caught the Slavic rapture of Dvorak's Song to the Moon and the lyrical anguish of Puccini's Tu che di'gel sei cinta.

Kristen Darragh coped with applause in the middle of her neatly delivered Donizetti aria but there were no such interruptions during Britten's Lucretia's aria, though one wondered whether its emotionalism makes for an appropriate competition "turn".

Darragh had opened the evening with Reynaldo Hahn and Andrew Glover also chose this composer, his A Chloris somehow bypassing the song's essential elegance.

Glover worked hard, perhaps too hard, pumping the venom into Handel's Thou shalt break them, being much more relaxed in the military-style vocal flourishings of Weber's Von Jugend auf in dem Kampgefild.

Only Polly Ott seemed out of her depth, her Strauss' Die Nacht burdened with worrying vibrato and tonal inconsistency.

Aidan Lang was a smooth, quip-laden MC but other speeches were less distinguished. Previous judges Grace Bumbry and Elizabeth Connell made trenchant (and quotable) comments; this time around, Siegfried Jerusalem, reading from carefully prepared copy, spun generalities.

It was the sponsor who spoke the words we wanted to hear. Bob Field, chairman of Toyota NZ, announced that the Lexus Song Quest would retain his company's support as it focused on young people and the need to preserve the strong performing arts culture that helps New Zealand as a civilised society. As he put it, "Recession forces you to examine what is really important in life." The applause was resounding, echoed no doubt nationwide, by the many thousands listening to Radio New Zealand Concert's live broadcast.