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: January 18, 2024

L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2: Farandole, Georges Bizet

Suggested by Elaine in Portland, Oregon

Every once in a while I get a an ear worm, or a song stuck in my head. Usually it’s something like (apologies in advance) “Who Let The Dogs Out” or a pop song with catchy lyrics, or a jingle from a TV or radio ad. Ever since I was young, whenever an ear worm got annoying, I’d play in my head a particular piece of classical music that apparently I’d heard at some point. This piece worked very well as a cleansing song! It took me years and years to figure out what the music was, or even the composer. One day I heard my cleansing song while streaming All Classical and I looked on my computer to find out the name of the music and who wrote it. Turns out it is Bizet’s L’Arlesienne, Suite No. 2 “Farandole" and as opposed to an ear worm, I never get tired of hearing this work! So, if you would, please play this delightful, busy piece and perhaps it can become a useful cleansing song for others, too!

Air date: January 17, 2024

Children’s Corner Suite: The Snow is Dancing, Claude Debussy

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

I discovered this song when I bought an album with Tomita's version at a discount store in the '70's. It reminds me of the snow in January in Cincinnati sitting in my grandmother's Nova while the snow created it's own whirlwind in the dead of winter. It's oh so beautiful this time of year.

Air date: January 16, 2024

Alleluia, Randall Thompson

Suggested by Kirke in Albany, Oregon

Many years ago I was a part of a handbell choir at church; one of our ringers was at the end of her 9th month of pregnancy but was still able to perform with us. I had arranged Randall Thompson's Alleluia to be rung by 3 octaves of handbells, We played it at the beginning of the Easter Eve service, and to our amazement the entire congregation gave us a standing ovation that must have lasted longer than the music itself! As we were taking down our bell tables our pregnant member's water broke, and Mary's baby girl Heather was born on Easter. Whenever I hear Randall Thompson's Alleluia it takes me back to that beautiful memory. I'd love to hear an instrumental version of this traditionally choral piece of music.

Air date: January 15, 2024

Water Music: Suite No. 2, George Frideric Handel

Suggested by Pat in Vancouver, Washington (he/his)

During the 1960’s while in high school I accidentally tuned into a Portland classical program playing Handel's Water Music. I was transfixed! Soon afterwards I bought my first classical recording, of this piece played on period instruments. Thus began my interest in classical music

Air date: January 12, 2024

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – Better is Peace, Karl Jenkins

Suggested by Michael in Atlanta, Georgia

I always listen to this piece as we enter a new year with the hope that one day we can truly ring out the war and hate of the world and "ring in a thousand years of peace." This year, it resonated more than ever and I wanted to share it with everyone. May it give us all food for thought as we enter into a year of uncertainty, fear, and chaos for so many.

Air date: January 11, 2024

Row On, Tim Laycock

Suggested by Kate in Depoe Bay, Oregon

I heard this song on the radio a few years ago while driving home. I was not in a good place mentally, things were quite dark and sad. As I listened, tears poured down my face as I realized there was indeed "dawn beyond the night" as the lyrics state. I immediately felt better after that cathartic outpouring of tears and emotion, and this song may very well have saved me.

Air date: January 10, 2024

Dance of the Blind, Marjan Mozetich

Suggested by Kate in Warfield, British Columbia

My husband, Roland, played accordion. Not the um-pah-pah polkas his parents tried to push on him, but music and lyrics uniquely his own, drawn from the depths of his soul. Folks in British Columbia who heard him play asked if he was from the Maritimes; in the Maritimes, people said his music was like nothing they’d ever heard.

He played for audiences and made them smile and dance but, mostly, he preferred playing while perched at the edge of a craggy shore above a raging river, or facing the ocean as the waves slammed into the sand, or at the top of a hillside with the valley at his feet and clouds gathering above.

Roland passed away, suddenly and much, much too soon, two years ago on January 10th. I would love for you to play one of his favourite pieces, Dance of the Blind, as my tribute to him and the wonderful life, full of music, that we shared.

Air date: January 9, 2024

Brigg Fair, Traditional English

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

I heard this recently on John Burk's show and fell in love with it immediately.

Air date: January 8, 2024

Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Opus 66, Frederic Chopin

Suggested by Mary Sue in Beaverton, Oregon

My mother was a gifted pianist; gifted and frustrated. Her primary musical outlet in our small town was playing for weekly services - 55 years worth - at a church whose members would have appreciated more Buck Owens and less Bach.   My sister and I provided her other musical outlet: when her anger at our quarrelsome ways boiled over, she would head for the piano and pound out one of her "mad songs": Mendelsohn’s Rondo Capriccioso, or Grieg’s Piano Concerto, or some up-tempo Chopin. We have yet to find a version of one of these pieces played with her particular vigor.   Were she still alive, January 6 would have been her 100th birthday. Perhaps one of her more reflective mad songs would fit the bill today? How about Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu in C Sharp Minor? It captures her spit and vinegar, her wistfulness and sadness - and possibly some of ours today, as well.

Air date: January 5, 2024

Danny Boy, Traditional Irish

Suggested by Elaine in Oregon City, Oregon

I would love to hear a choral version of this beautiful piece!

Air date: January 4, 2024

Theme from Inspector Morse, Barrington Pheloung

Suggested by Michael in Oregon City, Oregon

At 65 years young I started late in life listening to classical music. Years ago, my mother and I watched English detective shows on TV such as Inspector Morse. (Still my favorite!) This theme song led to listening to music like The Magic Flute and it just kept going. I have listened to The Five O'clock Favorite almost daily and have learned about so much good music such as Song for Bob, Gabriel's Oboe, The Flower Duet, and a bunch more. Also Thursdays @ Three introduced me to Zuill Bailey and his Bach cello suites. Thank you for all you do and keep inspiring us.

Air date: January 3, 2024

A Mountain Vision, Ole Bull

Suggested by Miriam in London, England

I often work late nights over in the UK enabling me to listen to the 5 O'Clock Favourite alongside my grandma in Oregon. Last year, around this same time, I sent in a 5:00 Favorite suggestion for her (Janet), which she absolutely loved. It was so special to hear that message on the radio. I hope my grandma will hear this song and feel some comfort. The music always makes me think about seeing Mount Hood emerge through the clouds when I fly over Oregon. Thank you Christa for sharing hidden meanings behind music.

Air date: January 2, 2024

Standchen (Serenade), D. 957, Franz Schubert

Suggested by Helena in Portland, Oregon

This song helped me through a pretty difficult time. It calms me down like nothing else, and I don’t know where I’d be without it.

Air date: January 1, 2024

Candide: Make Our Garden Grow, Leonard Bernstein

Suggested by Ann in Salem, Oregon

I would love to hear the choral version of Bernstein's "Make Our Garden Grow". Bernstein embraces the pain and suffering in the world and offers the simplest of refuges: to build a house and grow a garden. It brought me to tears when I saw "Maestro" on Netflix. I know of nothing more comforting to offer our troubled world.

Air date: December 29, 2023

The Pirates of Penzance: I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major General, Sir Arthur Sullivan

Suggested by Jacqueline in McMinnville, Oregon

I had a friend who was known as the "singing mailman of McMinnville." He did a lot of theater work, and had a fabulous voice. He died at age 56 of cancer, and I was devasated by the loss. He loved the Pirates of Penzance, and I'd love to hear this in his honor.

Air date: December 28, 2023

Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Claude Debussy

Suggested by Laurie in Silverton, Oregon

Beaverton, Christmas break 1960: my sister, who was majoring in Music at Whitman College, came home with the assignment to learn by heart Debussy's piano solo The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux Chevaux de Lin). She spent many hours mastering the piece, while I curled up at the base of the piano making her play over and over this beautiful music. It is still my favorite piece, and my daughters (both flaxen-haired) had it played as their husbands escorted me down the aisle at their weddings.

Air date: December 27, 2023

Piano Sonata No. 14, “Moonlight”: 1. Adagio sostenuto, Ludwig van Beethoven

Suggested by Michael in Tucson, Arizona

It resounds in my mind over and over again.

Air date: December 26, 2023

River, Joni Mitchell

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

It's a beautiful song, and perfect for this time of year.

Air date: December 21, 2023

Ave Maria, Franz Schubert

Suggested by Jayne in Gleneden Beach, Oregon

Back in the 1990s I returned to New Jersey to spend the holidays with my mother in the farmhouse of my childhood. This was the first Christmas after my father died during the previous holiday season. My mother and I sat in the living room with the warmth of her beautiful Christmas tree listened to a TV special with Andrea Bocelli. It was the first time we heard him and marveled at both how wonderful he was to listen to and how brave he was to perform. I think we each fell a bit in love with him that night.

All Classical likely receives many requests for various Ave Marias this time of year, but I would love to hear Andrea Bocelli sing the Ave Maria again and journey back to that magical night.

Air date: December 20, 2023

O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Traditional

Suggested by Finley in Portland, Oregon

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is a piece of music that sits quite close to my heart, not only because the first time I got to perform this piece with my high school choir, it was on my birthday in our state capitol building, but this is the piece that jump-started my fascination for Choral and Classical Music and it's all thanks to my high school choir teacher, Mr. Silva. Every winter, without fail, Mr. Silva pulls out an arrangement of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel that he himself arranged, and I can say that without a doubt I have yet to find another arrangement that holds a candle to his. Choir of King's College is about as close as I have gotten. I am ecstatic to see them perform it again at The Grotto this year, which just so happens to fall on my birthday again! Thanks Mr. Silva, this is for you.

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