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: November 25, 2022

Bird Rapture, Christopher Tin

Suggested by Frances in Aurora, Oregon

I have been listening to this on repeat and I love it so much. For me, it sounds like that feeling of being a kid out walking at dusk in the fall. When the sunset is turning everything a pinkish-red and you're just about to go inside to where it's warm, but you wait outside for a minute longer to admire the light, and a cold wind grabs your hair just like a movie. It's just such a cool piece and so beautifully sung.

Air date: November 23, 2022

Capricho Arabe (Arabic Caprice), Francisco Tárrega

Suggested by Chloe in Deming, New Mexico (they/them)

It's a beautiful piece.

Air date: November 21, 2022

War of the Worlds: Ray and Rachel, Refugee Status, John Williams

Suggested by Mandy in Portland, Oregon

My son loves The Score and would love to hear music from War of the Worlds. His name is Reuel (pronounced Rule) and it was his 12th birthday yesterday.

Air date: November 16, 2022

Sextet in E-flat for Two Horns and Strings, Ludwig van Beethoven

Suggested by Ted in Salem, Oregon

During the school year of 1966/67 I was a student at an academically rigorous boarding school just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks to the generosity of an alumni a few Seniors, which I was, could attend Sunday concerts at Severance Hall in Cleveland. Remarkedly I and a friend of mine seemed to be the only students who wanted go so off we went to listen to one of the great conductors, George Szell, conduct the great Cleveland Orchestra which often featured the world's best soloists of the time. Gone were thoughts of the looming French test, or essays due or pages of a novel that needed to be read. Instead we could let the music bathe our minds and cleanse our souls as we let the music wash over us. As a result I have been a lifelong devotee of the Classical Repertoire including as a 30 year season ticket holder to the Oregon Symphony.

Please choose a Beethoven piece for me as any of his work will fill my heart with the Gratitude and Joy I felt those many years ago. I will hear this as I drive home to Salem from Portland in rush hour having just finished baby sitting my 4 year old Granddaughter, a labor of love unlike any other!

Air date: November 15, 2022

Les Rameaux (The Palms), Jean-Baptiste Faure

Suggested by Elizabeth in Portland, Oregon

This piece of music has been played on the piano by my great-grandmother, my mother, and myself. I remember growing up listening to my mom play it for her mother on Palm Sunday every year. When I was in college, I learned it for my grandma and surprised her by playing it for her. My grandma passed away in November of last year and whenever I think of her, I think of this song. It reminds me of how gentle and sweet she was, and how powerful and influential she was in my life.

Air date: November 14, 2022

Go, Lovely Rose, Eric Whitacre

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

I recently discovered this beautiful piece and thought other listeners would enjoy it too. It's lovely!

Air date: November 11, 2022

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3: III. Allegro (Finale), J.S. Bach

Suggested by Ralph in Lake Oswego, Oregon

As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles in the mid-'sixties I knew the music of the Beach Boys and the Beatles. Then I somehow got a hold of Switched On Bach by Wendy Carlos and played the Third Brandenburg Allegro movement until the grooves in the album wore out. It evoked then and still evokes dervishes joyously twirling in unison on a large dance floor. I've moved on from electronic music but still love the frenetic excitement of the piece.

Air date: November 10, 2022

Quadrille on themes from Strauss’ operetta, “The Merry War”, Johann Strauss, Jr.

Suggested by Dave in Portland, Oregon

I'd like to express his thanks for Saturday Matinee, On Deck, and The Score, and wanted to request this quadrille by Johann Strauss II.

Air date: November 9, 2022

Henry V: Touch Her Soft Lips and Part, William Walton

Suggested by Emma in Portland, Oregon

I’m an 8th grader in middle school and I’m in a choir class.

William Walton’s gentle, pompous music fascinated me when I started watching the Olivier Shakespeare films, Hamlet (1948), Richard III (1955) and Henry V (1944) with my dad. One evening after school when I was sitting in my room, I decided to plug my headphones into my phone and listen to Walton’s Touch Her Soft Lips and Part. I listened quietly, tears streaming down my cheeks, I was blown away. When I hear it, I picture the heroic Henry with his lovely Catherine, sharing a passionate kiss after the dramatic battle at Agincourt.

Air date: November 8. 2022

Piano Concerto No. 2: II. Adagio sostenuto, Sergei Rachmaninov

Suggested by Richard in Silverton, Oregon

My Old English Sheepdog, Jack, listened to All Classical every day. In fact, my wife, Nancy, and I became sustaining contributors the day after we rescued Jack and his "sister" Maggie. The music soothed all of us.

I loved to lie on the couch with Jack, just stroking his coat, or scratching behind his ears. When he heard Rachmaninov's second concerto, he seemed to be more attentive, and the second movement calmed him. He was my constant buddy, and though he had multiple physical problems, he was always up for a hike or a romp. Recently, however, Jack's problems worsened, and we had to let him go to sleep. I still believe his spirit is listening, and I would like to share the second movement of this concerto with that sweet spirit again.

Air date: November 7, 2022

Mountbatten, The Last Viceroy: Main Title, Independence Day, End Titles, John Scott

Suggested by Lance in Portland, Oregon

Back in 1986 when I religiously watched Masterpiece Theatre there was a fascinating program called Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy. There were six parts and it depicted the transfer of India from the British Empire to independence. Mountbatten was given the task of the transfer of power in a matter of several months. He was able to do so courageously and with skill. The music composed by John Scott and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presented an amazing backdrop for the mini series and is especially poignant at this point in history with the loss of the Queen. Mountbatten was the Queen's cousin and he treated the independence of India with grace and skill. Please play the selections: Mountbatten main theme, Independence Day and The Last Viceroy, end titles.

Air date: November 4, 2022

Casey at the Bat, Peter Hamlin

Suggested by Ken in Camus, Washington

When Fall is in the air, some of us turn our thoughts to baseball and the World Series. The male vocal ensemble Cantus has done the world a great favor by celebrating America’s favorite pastime with their delightful recitation of Casey at the Bat. I am certain that it will bring a smile to the face of all fellow baseball fans out there as well as all observers of the human condition who recognize the utter folly of hubris.

Air date: November 3, 2022

Songs of the Auvergne: La Pastoura als camps (The Shepherdess in the Fields), Joseph Canteloube

Suggested by Kent in Beavercreek, Oregon

When I first heard the Songs of the Auvergne I was transported as if to another space, hearing the soaring and almost plaintive voice of the soprano (It was a recording by Victoria de los Angeles). It has since become one of my most favorite pieces of classical music.

Air date: November 2, 2022

Cantique de Jean Racine, Gabriel Faure

Suggested by Katharine in Portland, Oregon

I first heard this lovely piece while singing in the choir at First Unitarian Portland a few years ago under the excellent direction of Mark Slegers. I’ve sung in choirs since I was three years old (cherub choir in my hometown Lutheran church in York, PA), and Mark was one of my favorite choir directors.

Air date: November 1, 2022

Bolero, Maurice Ravel

Suggested by Gaynell in Portland, Oregon

I recently heard the Oregon Symphony perform the piece and it was astounding. I'd love to hear it again on air.

Air date: October 31, 2022

Ruddigore: When the night wind howls, Gilbert & Sullivan

Suggested by Dennis in Beaverton, Oregon

I am the founding director of Light Opera of Portland ("Absurdity Done in Complete Sincerity"). LOoP just wrapped up a 2-week run of Ruddigore. This is the perfect time of year for Ruddigore as it is a ghost story,

Air date: October 28, 2022

Medley of Scots Tunes, Rachel Barton Pine

Suggested by Basil in Regina, Saskatchewan

I first heard Alasdair Fraser years ago when he performed at a concert in the then Saskatchewan Centre for the Arts. I have since heard him in person at the Winnipeg Folk Festival where he conducted a workshop for aspiring fiddle players. His playing brings back memories of growing up in Scotland with Scottish traditional dance music on the radio.

Air date: October 27, 2022

Graceful Ghost Rag, William Bolcom

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

I bought the piano music a long time ago and thought that I had lost it.... but I recently found it and will try now to master it. (It's got a lot of flats in the key but that's what makes it fun!)

Air date: October 26, 2022

Lorelei, Clara Schumann

Suggested by Susan in Beavercreek, Oregon

A few years ago, on the unhappiest day of my life, I was shipboard on the Rhine River. In the afternoon, as we passed through the cliffs edging the river, I settled into a chair on the deck. It was a cold day and the wind began to sing through the narrows. It was the most unearthly music, made by voices from another time, the Lorelei on her rock, combing her hair to lure strong men to their deaths on the rocks below.

There is a German folksong, Die Lorelei, based on a poem by Heinrich Heine. Various composers have written music from the poem, among them Clara Schumann. It's not cheerful, to be sure, but for me it defines a day on a foreign river where, as I sat wrapped in a deck robe with a chill wind blowing, a steward brought me hot cocoa with rum.

Text of Heine's poem: https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/652

Air date: October 25, 2022

Henry V: Suite from the film, William Walton

Suggested by Val in Portland, Oregon

I have a family tree that goes back to 1415 when my ancestor, Sir William Newman, was knighted on the Battle of Agincourt. Tuesday, October 25, is St Crispin's Day, the day of the battle, and I would love to hear some music from the movie today,

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