Five O’Clock Favorite
Every weekday at 5:00 PM PT
Every weekday at 5:00 PM PT, All Classical Radio and host Christa Wessel invite listeners to be part of the programming. During the Five O’Clock Favorite, you’ll hear a listener-suggested piece of music along with a personal story about their choice. With pieces that are fun and familiar, music for remembrance and reflection, and everything in between, the Five O’Clock Favorite is a perfect way to ease your commute, end your workday, or start off your evening soundtrack on All Classical Radio.
Your Host
Christa Wessel
Weekdays at 5:00, you’ll find me in my happy place on the radio: sharing your Five O’Clock Favorite. This special program is an opportunity for me to celebrate listeners’ memories and favorite pieces of classical music. Our stories connect us to each other, and this daily segment allows us to hear what’s in the hearts of our friends and neighbors. I hope you’ll submit your suggestion for a future Five O’Clock Favorite!
Submit your favorite piece:
Suggestions are easiest to honor if they’re 20 minutes or less.
My love of classical music has its roots in my earliest memories, reaching back over 7 decades. It was inspired deeply by my Dad, whose passion for such music formed the backdrop of my youth. Over the years, I have grown to increasingly appreciate that, as one of humanity’s greatest art-forms, such magnificent music has the power to bypass our intellect, going straight to the soul. And while my taste may have changed and matured over time, my love for such music has been a continuous affair.
That said, when asked to choose one favorite piece among the pantheon of so many unbelievably beautiful works, spanning so many centuries, I’m at a total loss; or, as the saying goes, “I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the sky”. In truth, whatever recent beautiful work I may have heard will continue playing in my mind, vying to be my favorite for that moment, until I hear the next unimaginably beautiful piece.
So I look to others to inspire me for making such a choice. And while, admittedly, there are far too many possibilities to choose from, I sense that Ralph Vaughan Williams was similarly challenged and inspired to pay homage to classical music, at its most sublime level, when he created the hauntingly beautiful and aptly named composition, “Serenade to Music”, as a tribute to conductor Sir Henry Wood, in celebration of Wood's 50th conducting anniversary. And so I offer this piece, in its orchestral version, as my choice.