Programs & Hosts

Five O’Clock Favorite

Hosted by
Christa Wessel

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. 

graphic for five o clock fav

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!

Christa Wessel
woman with glasses sitting on a blue couch, leaning slightly forward — Photo by Christine Dong

Submit your favorite piece:
Suggestions are easiest to honor if they’re 20 minutes or less.

Recent Favorites

Air date: March 28, 2024

Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile: VI. Benedictus, Charles Gounod

Suggested by Jim in Camas, Washington

This piece of choral music is achingly-beautiful, and it often moves me to tears.

Air date: March 27, 2024

1812 Overture (arr. Cambridge Buskers), Peter Tchaikovsky

Suggested by Lester in Gaston, Oregon

While living in London (UK), we were introduced into their fine tradition of buskers, or street performers. One of our favorites was the Cambridge Buskers. I just love their version of the the 1812 Overture. Most people know this piece because of its grandeur, scope, & artillery! The Buskers provide a stirring rendition, with only 2 musicians!!! I hope you and your listeners are as delighted as I have been.

Air date: March 26, 2024

Les Choristes: Cerf-Volant (“Kite”), Bruno Coulais

Suggested by Alyson in Portland, Oregon

When I first heard this music in the film, I thought it must be a Christmas song. The title, “Cerf-volant” translates literally to “flying deer,“ and the song had a magical, soaring quality with words that seem to describe a child’s wish for a reindeer to return. Then I remembered that “Cerf-volant” is the French word for “kite.” The song speaks the wishes of a child who is raptly watching a kite flying in the air, reminding it to come back home… but it still makes me feel the magic of Christmas every time I hear it.

Air date: March 25, 2024

A Little Whimsy, Dorothy Rudd Moore

Suggested by Walter in Blacksburg, Virginia

I was recently introduced to this composer and piece. I think it's just delightful and deserves more exposure.

Air date: April 12, 2024

The Sims: Buying Lumber, Jerry Martin

Suggested by Neil in Portland, Oregon

This piece brings back so many memories and feelings that I'm not sure I can even begin to articulate them all. I must have been around 10 years old when I first got my hands on the Sims, and to this day I am still in awe with everything about it - specifically the music that that game introduced me to. My mother always used to tell me about the classical music she remembers from the old (sorry lol) cartoons like 'The Looney Toons' when she was younger - this is my 'Looney Toons'. I hope these next few minutes brings you some sort of peace during your commute home, I know it will for me. Please, enjoy.

Air date: March 11, 2024

Il Trovatore: Anvil Chorus, Giuseppe Verdi

Suggested by Jeremy in Portland, Oregon

I was hoping you might be able to play Giuseppe Verdi's "Anvil Chorus" as little pick me up for the start of this Monday work week. Drive away some of these clouds and rain!

Air date: March 8, 2024

Queen Elizabeth’s March, Adela Verne

Suggested by James in Beaverton, Oregon

This was written by my Great Grandmother Adela Verne. My great uncle was John Vallier, a concert pianist who’s mother was Adela Verne, who herself was tutored by the great Clara Schumann. Adela Verne wrote "Queen Elizabeth's March" for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1937.

I have been quietly honoring my amazing great grandmother by listening to the March, and feel it might be a piece your listeners would enjoy. John Vallier was an amazing pianist, and his interpretations of Chopin are truly like no other…after all, he has direct lineage to Chopin himself.

Air date: March 7, 2024

Big Fish: Sandra’s Theme, Danny Elfman

Suggested by Kat in Wilsonville, Oregon

This movie has been my absolute favorite for as long as I can remember. It's one of those films that you can watch over and over again and get something new from it each time. I see so many people in every character, so much color in every song. This piece is my most favorite from the movie - I love how the music swells with anticipation as the sound grows, filling you with an undeniable sense of wonder.

Air date: March 6, 2024

The Competition: People Alone, Lalo Schifrin

Suggested by Jeff in Portland, Oregon

In 1980 a movie called "The Competition" starred a young Richard Dreyfus and Amy Irving. Their characters were in a piano competition. We bought the soundtrack at a record store and were mesmerized and flabbergasted that ANYone could play such complex, yet exhilarating works for the keyboard such as Prokofiev's Concerto No. 3, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 and more. Wow, we had no idea this kind of performance was even possible!

Air date: March 5, 2024

Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea, Joe Hisaishi

Suggested by Margie in Portland, Oregon

Every Friday morning at 8:55 Warren Black plays this piece. (And he says “that’s how you know it’s Friday.”) When he plays it, I am always in the car on my way to care for my granddaughter. The piece is so joyful, it puts me in the just the right frame of mind to spend the day with a curious 2 year old. I suggest that after a full day, this could also help with rush hour attitude adjustment.

Air date: March 4, 2024

Peer Gynt: Morning Mood, Edvard Grieg

Suggested by Thomas in Fukushima, Japan

Being a former Portlander, I still love listening to your station here in Japan. Morning Mood has long been one of my favorites. I first heard it as I child growing up in Seattle. At that time (the early sixties) there was a great children’s program on the local TV station which was hosted by a clown named J.P. Patches. J.P. lived in a ramshackle house in the city dump with his girlfriend, Gertrude. He showed classic cartoons and engaged in all kinds of antics. The show aired twice a day, once in the morning around 7am, and that morning show always opened with a grandfather clock and the gorgeous strains of Grieg’s Morning Mood. I have loved it ever since. Perhaps some of your other NW listeners may remember this, too!

Air date: March 1, 2024

Fanfare and Allegro, Clifton Williams

Suggested by Dave in Federal Way, Washington

This is more of a nostalgia piece -- I don't think it's possible for anyone to have gone through high school and college band without having played this at least once! There's just something about it that grabs you and won't let go, and I just think a lot of wind players would like to hear it again.

Air date: February 29, 2024

Miserere, Gregorio Allegri

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

This music is so beautiful. It's on my bucket list to experience it live, in person.

Air date: Robert in Portland, Oregon

String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Opus 135: 3. Lento Assai, Ludwig van Beethoven

Suggested by February 28, 2024

With the recent passing of Seiji Ozawa I was reminded of a concert I attended as a sophomore in college in 1974. The Toho School of Music String Orchestra was in the US on tour led by Maestro Ozawa. The concert became a memorial tribute to Hideo Saito, one of Ozawa's mentors and a leader at the Toho School of Music in Japan who had passed away in September of that year. The concert included a wonderful performance of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings but more so what remains with me to this day -as though it just happened- was a performance of the slow movement from Beethoven's String Quartet Number 16, set for full string orchestra. The poignant movement was a favorite of Mr. Saito and the emotion on stage as the student orchestra played the movement was apparent - many of the young musicians wept as they played. When the movement ended Maestro Ozawa held his arms stretched out, completely still for several moments. The audience was completely silent. His arms slowly descended to his side and he then quietly walked off the stage, the audience still in hushed silence. It is an intensely emotional memory for me as I reflect on my own years as a music director, my life filled with the power of music and the importance of all my music teachers and mentors

Air date: February 27, 2024

Four Last Songs: September, Richard Strauss

Suggested by Tony in Portland, Oregon

Many years ago I was living in Pittsburgh while my then wife, a music major, was studying violin at a university there. He teacher introduced us to lots of wonderful music — the Strauss Four Last Songs, chamber music by Bruckner, and so on. Everything he introduced me to was good, but when I heard the Strauss I was knocked out—so gorgeous, so richly autumnal.

Air date: February 26, 2024

The Mermaid and the Shiny Wing, Evan Call

Suggested by Nate in Beaverton, Oregon

This piece is from the anime movie "Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish." I went into this film expecting almost nothing. Now, it's my favorite movie, and I listen to the soundtrack in my high school classes often. This piece is my favorite one in the film. It fills my soul with joy when I listen to it, and I want to spread the joy this piece gives me to many more people.

Air date: February 23, 2024

North And South: Main Titles, Bill Conti

Suggested by Sharyn in Portland, Oregon

I love this miniseries and the theme music has always evoked such emotion in me every time I hear it. I feel as if I am back in the Civil War time period fighting to end slavery...

Air date: February 22, 2024

Alvamar Overture, James Barnes

Suggested by Erica in Vancouver, Washington

My senior year at Camas high school, in 1990, the band Director, Mr. Ron James, picked this piece of music for our concert. It was the hardest piece of music that the band had attempted. I will never forget during one of the rehearsals when everything came together, and Mr. James shed a tear, telling us we had just made beautiful music. An unforgettable, treasured memory.

Air date: February 21, 2024

Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra, George Gershwin

Suggested by Margo in Corvallis, Oregon

Somehow I had never even heard this piece until I played it (violin I) in the Rogue Valley Symphony 30 years ago or so, whereupon I utterly fell in love with it.

Air date: February 19, 2024

Mavis in Las Vegas, Peter Maxwell Davies

Suggested by Tony in Portland, Oregon

I suggested "An Orkney Wedding" a few weeks ago, and I’m not trying to sell or push Peter Maxwell Davies, but there’s another piece of his that’s not so well known that I have always found to be equally delightful, “Mavis in Las Vegas,” which is described as a foxtrot for orchestra. It’s an affectionate homage to ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s popular music, and is both humorous and serious (like an “Orkney Wedding"). And the ending is equally moving—a foxtrot that goes to heaven.

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