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: July 16, 2025

Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”: III. Scherzo, Antonin Dvorak

Suggested by Michelle in Portland, Oregon

If record albums were trading cards, Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 would be my "Mickey Mantle". As a teenager, I had a habit of starting every Saturday morning lying on the floor and listening to what I called "the BIG symphonies" - Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, etc. Dvorak's No. 9 (London Philharmonic with the funky blue cover) was my current favorite when my mother came to me and asked to trade my Dvorak for her Beethoven's 5th because it inspired her to do the ironing. I was not happy. I was 'so over' Beethoven's 5th by that point and didn't want to give up my Dvorak. But being the smart teenager I was and not wanting to get saddled with the ironing chores, I consented. For some reason, to this day I have never replaced my copy. I'm not sure which parts inspired her the most but if I were doing the ironing I would choose the scherzo.

Air date: July 15, 2025

Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”: Mvmt 3 Rondo-Allegro non troppo, Ludwig van Beethoven

Suggested by Ansel in Portland, Oregon

Many years ago, while I was studying at the Guildhall School of Music, the late Alfred Brendel played Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto next door with the London Symphony Orchestra. But the concert was completely sold out with no rush tickets available. So there were about 50 of us, mostly broke college kids, huddled around the monitors in the Barbican lobby. We listened through the doors like some sort of Depression-era bourgeoisie, desperate for some of Brendel's inimitable clarity and nuance. It'll always be one of my favorite performances and most cherished memories of classical music. Rest in peace to another legend and giant of 20th century pianism!

Air date: July 14, 2025

Lionel Daunais, Le Pont Mirabeau

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

Just think if you had a hard day at work and need to relax... this definitely will help along with a glass of wine. :)

Air date: July 11, 2025

Pictures at an Exhibition: Great Gate of Kiev (trans. for organ), Modeste Mussorgsky

Suggested by Ron in La Center, Washington

Pictures at an Exhibition was my favorite music composition growing up and I collected various versions, from the ELP rock version to Tomita's electronic version, to symphonic versions. But one record I lost was a version played on the Wanamaker organ in Philly (now Macy's). If you had that version I would love to hear it again (or a similar version on the organ). Thanks!

Air date: July 10, 2025

Intermezzo in A, Opus 118, No. 2, Johannes Brahms

Suggested by Dana in Gresham, Oregon

I'm almost 70 years old and I've been a pianist my whole life. My teacher just gave me this piece to learn. I am blown away by it's beauty, complexity and depth, it's lyricism. I've never really played much Brahms before. It stays in my head all day after I practice and I feel like if I can master it, I can die a happy woman!!

Air date: July 9, 2025

Symphony No. 9: II. Molto vivace (Scherzo), Ludwig van Beethoven

Suggested by Dave in Federal Way, Washington

Beethoven's 9th is a traditional New Year's piece in Japan, similar to the Radetzky March in Vienna. When I was playing in the Guam Symphony (a smallish community orchestra) we had some players visit from Japan to play this symphony. We were short of horn players, though, and I jumped back and forth between the 2nd and 4th horn parts. I never realized before then that the solo horn parts throughout the 3rd movement all belong to the 4th horn! There are many stories going around about just why Beethoven wrote it that way, and we'll probably never know for sure. Nevertheless, I consider this 5:00 Favorite a tribute to all those at the forgotten end of the section -- or, as Anna Russell described them, some of the "denizens of the deep end of the orchestra".

Air date: July 8, 2025

Piano Sonata No. 2 in b-flat, Op. 35: III. Funeral March, Frederic Chopin

Suggested by Russell in Portland, Oregon

My father's mother was an accomplished pianist, playing all her life on a Steinway Parlor Grand Piano she received as a gift from her parents, performing recitals in Hood River and Portland and studying in New York City in the 1920s. My father, the eldest son, did not have a particular aptitude for the piano, but in an act of rebellion, apparently did learn one song: the Funeral March. When I came along, my father wanted to teach it to me. I recall, when I was about 6 or 7, being taught on my grandmother's piano the most famous few stanzas by my father, but my hands were too small to bridge a full octave. When he couldn't figure out how to adapt it for my small hands, he consulted his mother and she taught me the most important keys that my hands could reach. I would play the snippet I knew, as a little bit of mischievous dark humor, whenever a piano presented itself throughout my young life. Eventually my hands got big enough that I could cover the octaves and it sounded a bit better, but I never learned the full movement. Later, I became more familiar listening to the full piece and really loved it, particularly how sadness transitions into a middle section, remembering the sweet times of life, and then transitioning back to the realization of loss. It is wonderful. I definitely want it played at my memorial (hopefully in the distant future).

Air date: June 20, 2025

Mazurkas, Op. 50, Nos. 1-4, Karol Szymanowski

Suggested by Richard in Portland, Oregon

I am a retired pianist/professor and Szymanowski was the subject of my DMA lecture-recital at UWI-Madison. I performed various of his works including Etudes, op. 4, and Metopes, op. 29. I'd love for more people to be aware of his music!

Air date: June 19, 2025

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs: Mvmt II: Lento, Henryk Górecki

Suggested by Kim in Portland, Oregon

My classical favorite? Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony. I was living in Chicago in 1998 when I had a massive stroke and my wife was serving her internship in Minnesota in pediatric neuropsychology. A classical radio station played the piece several times, I recall, when I was recovering. Górecki’s “sorrowful songs” convinced me that we had many things yet to do. And here we are in Portland 25 years later enjoying life and beautiful music on All Classical. Thank you so very much.

Air date: June 18, 2025

Spanish Rhapsody, Franz Liszt

Suggested by Frank in Salem, Oregon

I was 20 when I had to take a music appreciation class at college. I was never really into Classical music that much, but that all changed when, right in class, we were treated to a live performance of Liszt's Rhapsody Español. The professor, Dr. Barbara Alen Crocket played the entire composition with such passion and technical skill that I became hooked on Classical Music ever since. My favorites are music from the Romantic Era: Liszt, Chopin and Beethoven, etc. What a wonderful world of music I had been missing. But, thanks to that class -and that talented professor- I was given a priceless gift that forever touched my soul.

Air date: June 10. 2025

Concerto for Violin and Strings (“in due cori”) in B flat: II. Andante, Antonio Vivaldi

Suggested by Dennis in Beaverton, Oregon

I so enjoy your 5:00 Favorite on All Classical Radio, the diversity of music and the interesting stories that people have to tell about their favorites. Years ago when I first heard the Andante from the Antonio Vivaldi Concerto in due cori in B-flat Major "Con Violino Discordato" I was mesmerized by the passionate beauty of the piece. At the time I was a voice teacher in New York City. I could not resist playing the recording for all of my students one at a time and watch them being carried away by its intense emotion. Every time I heard it, I experienced the same amazement over the throbbing beauty of the violin. I'm a writer, and this melody has stayed with me for years and has become so much a part of me that I wove it into my latest novel (In the Light of a Polestar).
I do find it odd that it is so seldom heard. Because of this and its remarkable beauty, I would love to have it played on Five O'clock Favorite. I think it would be a reward to anyone having got through another workday!

Air date: June 9, 2025

Petite Messe Solennelle: Kyrie, Gioacchino Rossini

Suggested by Nathaniel in Oregon City, Oregon

Whenever I think of Gioachino Rossini, I reflexively think of the jocularity present in some of his most famous pieces; how can his music ever fail to bring a smile to one's face?! But when I first heard the opening motif of the Kyrie from Rossini's "Little Solemn Mass" I had to do a double take! Was this the same composer? Indeed it was! This short kyrie quickly became a favorite piece of mine in this composer's prodigious oeuvre. Rossini's "Lord, have mercy" while somber in stretches, remains filled with hope! May that hope extend to all who hear this lovely piece today!

Air date: June 5, 2025

The Padstow Lifeboat, Malcolm Arnold

Suggested by Cilla in Princeton, Iowa

My husband, a very fine English gentleman, loved to share his passion for all things musical. He loved really descriptive music, too. One of his favorites was Malcolm Arnold's Padstow Lifeboat. The story that is told in this piece is certainly dramatic and one that is enjoyed by the audiences that hear it. Making this piece even more personal is that his grandson has been a volunteer with a lifeboat crew for some time now. Lifeboats are very important in England and I think this piece honors those brave crew members in a very wonderful way.

Air date: June 4, 2025

Bassoon Concerto in B Flat, W.A. Mozart

Suggested by Julie in Vancouver, Washington

I think bassoon is the most underrated instrument in the orchestra! Its sound is wholly unique, and just makes me so happy. Mozart's Bassoon Concert was his first concerto for a wind instrument, which tells me he loved the bassoon, too.

Air date: June 3, 2025

Aeolian Beauty, RZA

Suggested by George in Salem, Oregon

I just learned that RZA from the legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan released a classical album last year, which also happens to be a ballet. It's called "A Ballet Through Mud," and I'd like to hear the first track: Aeolian Beauty. It occurs to me as I listen to this that we shouldn't pigeonhole artists (or anyone) into one box...!

Air date: June 2, 2025

Bagatelles, Antonin Dvorak

Suggested by Isaac in Portland, Oregon

Though Dvorak specifically wrote this piece for two violins, cello and harmonium, I've heard it performed by many different kinds of ensembles. My favorite is the recording by Quartetto Gelato, who sub out one of the violins for an oboe, and the harmonium for a modern accordion. The piece itself brings a smile to my face by this recording makes the sun shine!

Air date: May 30, 2025

Orchestral Suite No. 3: Air, J.S. Bach

Suggested by Alice in Portland, Oregon

The last month has been very difficult for me, and I'm finding that I often turn to this piece of music for a few moments of relaxation and solace.

Air date: May 29, 2025

Piano Quintet in A minor: II. Adagio, Edward Elgar

Suggested by Lance in Portland, Oregon

This work of Elgar's, especially the exquisite second movement, brings so much beauty to the world we find ourselves in right now. We are anxious about so many things, and I feel that the peace expressed in this masterpiece can help heal us. How can we possibly sit with such a vast array of emotions except through their artistic manifestation? That's what this piece by Elgar does for me, and I hope can do the same for you as well.

Air date: May 28, 2025

Daphnis et Chloe: Suite No. 2, Maurice Ravel

Suggested by Aaron in Portland, Oregon

This is my father's favorite piece of classical music, and holds a deep significance growing up in a house that loves French culture, and where three of the four of us speak French. Its profound coloristic orchestration and the swath of timbres make it a moving piece that helps awaken the senses and spirit to the possibilities of every instrument in the orchestra – all due to Ravel's mastery as a composer, orchestrator, and innovator.

Air date: May 27, 2025

The Four Seasons: Winter, Antonio Vivaldi

Suggested by Dwayne in Miami, Florida

I'm writing to you today with a deep appreciation for All Classical Radio and the beautiful programming you bring to our community. As a devoted listener, I often find myself transported by the music you share, and it has inspired me to share a personal story about a piece that holds a very special place in my heart: Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," specifically the "Winter" concerto.

The sheer brilliance of Vivaldi's "Winter" is, in my opinion, a testament to his genius. It's not just a piece of music; it's a vivid sonic painting. From the biting chill of the opening strains to the delicate, almost tiptoeing pizzicato that evokes snowflakes falling, Vivaldi masterfully captures the essence of the season. The contrasting movements perfectly portray the harsh realities of winter – the shivering cold, the ice – while also hinting at the quiet beauty and stillness it can bring. The virtuosity demanded of the solo violin is breathtaking, truly embodying the struggle and triumph against the elements.

But beyond the technical mastery, there's a personal connection. I remember first truly "hearing" "Winter" during a particularly harsh snowstorm. The power went out, and as I sat by the fireplace, the only light coming from the flickering flames, I put on a recording of "The Four Seasons." The music wasn't just background; it became the soundtrack to the storm outside. The shivering strings felt like the wind howling through the eaves, the fast passages like the swirling snow, and the moments of stillness felt like the hushed calm after a heavy snowfall. It was an incredibly immersive experience, and from that moment on, "Winter" transcended being just a beautiful piece of music; it became a personal connection to a powerful memory.

Vivaldi himself, the "Red Priest" of Venice, was a fascinating character, often defying the norms of his time. His prolific output, particularly his concertos, revolutionized instrumental music. Knowing a bit about his life – his work at the Ospedale della Pietà, a Venetian orphanage for girls, where he taught and composed extensively for his talented female musicians – only deepens my admiration for his work. He not only composed masterpieces but also championed the musical education of young women, which was truly progressive for the era.

Thank you for considering my suggestion. I'm always eager to hear the stories and inspirations behind the music you share.

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