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: April 20, 2022

Pines of Rome: Pines of the Villa Borghese & The Pines of the Appian Way, Ottorino Respighi

Suggested by Kathy in Beaverton, Oregon

My late husband, Mike, introduced me to the tone poems of Respighi in 1979. Instantly charmed, I could close my eyes and let the music transport me to a distant place and time. The Pines of the Appian Way evokes the majesty of the advancing Roman army. The Pines of the Villa Borghese is filled with the laughter of children at play. Both of these melodic locations in the Pines of Rome fill me with joy!

Air date: April 19, 2022

Concerto Grosso No. 6 in D, Opus 3, G. F. Handel

Suggested by Robert in Vancouver, Washington

I only started listening to classical music regularly a month ago. I now listen all day during the week while at work. This piece was the first time I went from passive listening to wanting to know what it was and who wrote it. Something about the organ really caught me and took me from listening passively to being engaged in what I was hearing. That's not much of a story, but keep in mind I'm a garbage man that was listening to Metallica and talk radio all the time. I know what I like, and I really like this.

Air date: April 18, 2022

Rustle of Spring, Christian Sinding

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

I started learning how to play this, but switched piano teachers and never got a chance to finish learning it. But I still have the piano music and a piano!

Air date: April 15, 2022

Agnus Dei, Samuel Barber

Suggested by Joshua in Vancouver, Washington

A dear friend recently passed away and in college we sang this (among many other wonderful pieces) in choir together. This song was one of our absolute favorites and I felt this would be a small but meaningful tribute to her glorious voice and wonderful life.

Air date: April 14, 2022

Clair de Lune, Claude Debussy

Suggested by Barbara in Damascus, Oregon

There was a movie made in the 40s called "Music for Millions" in which Larry Adler played Clair de Lune on his harmonica. It was so beautiful. My brother bought the sheet music for me to learn to play. About that same time Larry Adler appeared at the Civic Auditorium and my uncle took me to see him. What a thrill! I would love to hear this piece again.

Air date: April 13, 2022

Anima Christi, Marco Frisina

Suggested by Anne in Woodburn, Oregon

This piece never fails to life my spirits and console me. It is a beautiful reminder of Christ's love for us and of our own unworthiness of His mercy. I hope you enjoy this magnificent piece.

Air date: April 12, 2022

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, J.S. Bach

Suggested by Susan in Keizer, Oregon

I don't have a story to tell about this... it's just my all-time favorite.

Air date: April 11, 2022

Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin

Suggested by Kathleen in Beaverton, Oregon

This haunting piece of music transports me to a mysterious universe where all is lost, then found again in the melody

Air date: April 1, 2022

The Lark Ascending, Ralph Vaughan Williams

Suggested by Janice in Portland, Oregon

I love music that puts you in a specific place. When I first heard this piece I pictured myself walking along an English road. It fills me with joy and I love it’s calming effect. Someday I hope to travel to the English countryside, listening to this amazing work.

Air date: March 31, 2022

Goyescas: The Maiden and the Nightingale, Enrique Granados

Suggested by Tami in Portland, Oregon

I started taking piano lessons around age eight and, while I enjoyed it, it was difficult to connect with music that sometimes sounded, well, old-fashioned to my youthful years. One day my piano teacher played an Alicia de Larrocha recording of a piece I was starting to learn and it completely blew me away. The way she was able to combine technical excellence with raw emotion was unlike anything I had heard before. I am 43 now and still 'get the feels' when I hear her performances. Thanks for considering my suggestion!

Air date: March 30, 2022

The Almond Tree, John Ireland

Suggested by Pie in Portland, Oregon

There's no significant story attached to this for me... but when I first heard it on All Classical Portland I was struck by its beauty.

Air date: March 29, 2022

Melody in F, Anton Rubinstein

Suggested by Eleanor in Portland, Oregon

In 1946, when I was in 4th grade, I began taking piano lessons at my school. This piece was the final selection in my music book, and I played it for the visiting music supervisor when she asked me to play a favorite composition. Following that, I was given my certificate having 'passed' this end of year event! I have always enjoyed hearing it over these many years and it remains a favorite indeed!

Air date: March 28, 2022

Suo Gan, Traditional Welsh

Suggested by Lezlie in Portland, Oregon

A number of years ago I moved from the Northwest to Iowa City to pursue graduate work at the University of Iowa. Fortuitously I had family there, among them an aunt and uncle who immediately took me under their wing. My aunt was actually the child of Welsh immigrants and extremely proud of her Welsh ancestry.... and taught me to be proud of mine.

One of the sweet pleasures of living in Iowa City was going with my aunt to the local tiny Welsh church and listening to music. The Welsh love to sing, and my aunt was no exception. She possessed a light, lovely voice and a particular fondness for “Suo Gan,” the Welsh lullaby featured in Empire of the Sun. Its haunting beauty still leaves me breathless every time I hear it, and every time I hear it I think of my beloved Aunt Margaret. Although she died several years ago, I know she would be pleased if All Classical Portland shared that exquisite piece with others.

Air date: March 25, 2022

The Prayer, David Foster

Suggested by Craig in Beaverton, Oregon

My Uncle Wally was a DJ at a classical music station in Seattle for several years back in the 60's. He loved classical music and it played continually in the kitchen of his small home whenever I visited. When I was in high school I saw the movie, Secret of My Success, and heard David Foster's music for the first time in the movie soundtrack. A few years later I gave my Uncle Wally a David Foster cassette as a Christmas gift. He truly enjoyed that cassette and I recall listening to it with him on a drive through the Columbia Gorge one winter. He was a very mild mannered man, but I recall him turning up the volume just before a section of one of David Foster's songs that he loved. He passed away almost nine years ago now, and I remember him fondly for his easy going and mild mannered temperament and the times we spent together at his home, classical music often in the background. Please dedicate this song to the late Wally Keyser (nickname, not real first name) of Seattle, Washington.

Air date: March 24, 2022

Piano Concerto No. 2: III. Andante, Johannes Brahms

Suggested by John in Portland, Oregon

My first exposure to this music was in the '60s, on a vinyl recording. It's undeniably a great piece, and the part of it that I fell in love back then (and am still crazy about now) is the 3rd movement with its incredibly beautiful cello solo.

Air date: March 23, 2022

Fugue in C Major, Dietrich Buxtehude

Suggested by David in Newberg, Oregon

The first time I heard this, it was performed in 1964 by Mrs. Winifred Clark on the wonderful but small pipe organ at the First Baptist Church of National City, CA. I stood enthralled on the left side of the church near the front, and it was at that moment I fell in love with the pipe organ. I was 13 and just beginning my musical journey. No other performance has ever been quite so riveting in my life. Although I have listened to a number of recordings, none of them has captured the joyous runs quite like Mrs. Clark. She utilized the pedals in the deepest register magically and her performance totally mesmerized me.

Air date: March 22, 2022

Night on Bald Mountain, Modest Mussorgsky

Suggested by David in Portland, Oregon

My father's favorite way to relax was to put on some classical music, lie down on the living room couch and read his latest favorite book. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms and more would fill the house. It was all background music to me until the 8th grade. That year, disco had taken over the airwaves and the cinema, and I just about wore out my cassette of "Saturday Night Fever". One of the cuts on the album didn't seem to fit, but I found it intriguing. "Night on Disco Mountain" was a crazy, threatening instrumental that featured not even one Bee Gee. Looking at the insert, it said "based on Modest Mussorgsky's 'Night on Bald Mountain'. I asked my dad if he'd heard about it. Heard about it?! It was one of his favorite pieces! He stopped what he was playing, fished out the proper cassette and we sat and listened to that frightening, harrowing piece of music. I had found the key that opened my musical mind. From there I went to "Pictures at an Exhibition" then "The Planets" then "La Mer" and much more ... all of this gigantic, evocative music poured forth from the stereo and into my imagination. I was hooked.

Air date: March 21, 2022

Sonata for Arpeggione & Piano: 1. Allegro moderato, Franz Schubert

Suggested by Kyle in Newberg, Oregon

As a viola student at George Fox university, I have been learning this piece, and as a result have fallen in love with its contrasts: it is both delicate but intense, dramatic and easy going, and sad yet happy. Schubert originally wrote this piece for the arpeggione, a six string instrument somewhere in between a cello and viola, which was newly created about a year prior to this composition. About a year after this composition, the arpeggione began to fade from the norm and the work was therefore later transposed for a number of instruments such as the viola, cello, and violin.

Schubert wrote this piece near the end of his life in a stage of fragility. I believe one of the main characteristics of this piece is how delicate it is, as well as having a sweet melancholy feel.The piece is quite passionate, and I wonder what Schubert was thinking as he composed this... is it the story of a man knowing his time will end? A man that can still rejoice in the good memories of youth and health, but at the same time knowing it will come to an end, as all things do...?

Air date: March 15, 2022

Theme & Variations on “Northwest Passage”, Stan Rogers (arr. Suresh Singaratnam)

Suggested by Richard in Wilsonville, Oregon

Heard this while I was building a canoe many years ago and have liked it ever since. I have listened to All Classical Portland for many years now and I love how the music helps when driving, or how it brightens the early morning sunrise.

Air date: March 14, 2022

Kojo no Tsuki (Moon Over the Ruined Castle), Rentaro Taki

Suggested by Hannah in Portland, Oregon

I started listening to All Classical about a year ago and gained a new appreciation for the world of music. Sometimes my girlfriend and I will sit down with each other and share recordings of our favorite pieces. One evening I played this for her and we both sat completely entranced by the beauty of this song. The magic of music is incredible; we rarely sit and just exist in the present, but music helps us do that.

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