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 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.

Air date: March 11, 2022

Orb and Sceptre, William Walton

Suggested by Emma in Portland, Oregon

William Walton is one of my favorite composers. I recently saw Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955) and was taken by Walton's thrilling scores. I also love this coronation march, Orb and Sceptre, written for Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1952. I find this music uplifting and hopeful.

Air date: March 10, 2022

The Cloths of Heaven, Z. Randall Stroope

Suggested by Laura in Jacksonville, Oregon

I sing with The Siskiyou Singers, a choral group in the Rogue Valley. Our director, Mark Reppert, has chosen this piece for our first live concert in two years. It is enchanting. I can hardly wait to sing it. I can hardly wait to sing with my friends again!

Air date: March 9, 2022

Lincolnshire Posy, Percy Grainger

Suggested by Peter in Portland, Oregon

My Dad, Jim Albert, was Director of Bands at Eastern Washington University from 1968 - 1977. He shared his love for all music with his kids. But his enthusiasm for this piece helped spark my lifelong participation in wind bands, including excellent community bands (Portland Wind Symphony, Oregon Symphonic Band, Lake Oswego Millennium Concert Band) for the last 30 years

Air date: March 8, 2022

Symphony No. 2: 4th movement, Johannes Brahms

Suggested by Anna in Newberg, Oregon

I played this piece the first year I attended the Young Musicians and Artists Camp and I immediately fell in love with it. I can still listen to it and imagine how it sounded on the Willamette University stage. Getting to play a piece of music that was so packed with drama was exciting to experience at such a young age. There is a bit of summer nostalgia that comes with listening to the last movement of this symphony for me as it was a great closer piece for the last concert of camp. I love the drama that Brahms brings with this movement but I can also vividly remember the orchestra conductor being in love with the whole symphony and being so expressive! I knew in that moment that I wanted to love music as much as he did and teach music with the same passion.

Air date: March 7, 2022

Carnaval: Eusebius, Florestan & Coquette, Robert Schumann

Suggested by Jonathan in Newberg, Oregon

It's not very often I encounter music that has a relatively simple composition, while simultaneously conveying complex emotions. These pieces by Schumann depict characters which were his imaginary friends with their own personalities. The characters Eusebius and Florestan have contrasting personalities which is cleverly revealed through the music’s tempo, harmonies, dynamics and articulation. These pieces are not only great examples of incredible composition, but also produce complex and specific emotions while remaining easy to listen to, catchy, and relatable.

Air date: March 4, 2022

Widmung, Robert Schumann

Suggested by Graham in Newberg, Oregon

This was a piece that I had the opportunity to learn and perform in school. It is a short piece, but it carries a lot of emotion with it and through it I was able to watch myself grow as a student and a musician. It also has a connection to a musical mentor in my life who has been a great inspiration for me and has urged me to continue in music.

Air date: March 3, 2022

Harold in Italy: Procession of the Pilgrims, Hector Berlioz

Suggested by Adam in Hillsboro, Oregon

One of my favorite pieces from the Romantic period is “Harold in Italy” by Hector Berlioz. This 4-movement piece has a very virtuosic viola solo. Berlioz had actually composed this piece on commission from the violinist Niccolo Paganini, who had just bought a Stradivarius viola. What I found interesting, however, is that Paganini never actually liked the music because he said it was too “flashy” for him.

It tells the story of protagonist, Harold. The first movement is called “Harold in the Mountains” and we can hear the different emotions of Harold climbing this mountain... the sadness, the fear, the happiness, all brilliantly brought together by the viola soloist. There is a short theme that is played by the soloist that will occur throughout the entire piece that is beautiful. The second movement, titled “Procession of Pilgrims,” will remind listeners of sitting in church. The third movement, “Serenade” is a much more upbeat and cheerful movement that depicts a mountaineer singing to his beloved, which is played by the English Horn. The fourth movement, titled “The Orgy of the Brigands,” Berlioz uses many different callback methods to give hints back to the other movements. This movement is far more intense than the past movements and it seems as though Berlioz pulls out all the stops in the final moments of this piece, as he often likes to do in his other compositions.

There is something about emotion in this composition -and in the storytelling- that always gets me giddy. I think this is a brilliant piece. The fact that Berlioz told a story with a protagonist as well as side characters makes me wonder what I could do in my own compositions. I am personally surprised that this is not one of his most known pieces because it is beautifully written as well as extremely virtuosic.

Air date: February 22, 2022

Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, J.S. Bach

Suggested by Nathan in Newberg, Oregon

I'm a music major at George Fox University and I play percussion. During my last semester, I played a marimba adaptation of this piece, and its energy makes it one of the most unforgettable pieces I have played.

Air date: February 21, 2022

Sei mir Gegrüsst, Franz Schubert

Suggested by Lelde in Portland, Oregon

My husband, Peter passed away some years ago on Valentine’s day. This piece of music is my greeting to him, in celebration of our love.

Air date: February 18. 2022

Nocturne No. 11 in G minor, Op. 37, No. 1, Frederic Chopin

Suggested by Ceara in Ridgefield, Washington

Chopin has been one of my favorite composers ever since I first played his music. I grew up playing piano and was trained classically, yet I had a difficult time connecting with the pieces I was given to play, especially the livelier “uppity” pieces. On rare occasions, my teacher would let me choose something to play, albeit from her selection. On one of these occasions, I asked to play something moodier, as “classical is too happy,” to quote my younger self. My teacher laughed yet humored me, previewing several pieces for me until she reached Chopin and I instantly fell in love. This nocturne by Chopin has continued to be one of my favorites years later.

Air date: February 17, 2022

Symphonie Fantastique: 2. “At the Ball”, Hector Berlioz

Suggested by Owen in Dundee, Oregon

The Symphonie Fantastique was inspired by Berlioz’s romantic obsession with actress Harriet Smithson. That obsession ironically later came apart when they met, married and ultimately divorced. This music displays a sort of timeline of Berlioz’s obsession from initial infatuation to absolute grief at the thought of never being with her.

I feel like I had a similar timeline in my life. Back in high school, I had a crush on a girl and our bond grew tremendously over our mutual love of music. I never told her about my crush until after graduation, when we both were at different universities, and I was devastated to find out she had felt the same way about me for some time as well.

She is now in a committed relationship with another man, and although I couldn’t be more happy for her and wish her nothing but the best, part of me still wonders about "what could’ve been" and how different things would have turned out if I just asked her out on one date.

I find a lot of myself in Berlioz’s work, as I felt less alive by never acting on my feelings. However, I’m happy to know -through Berlioz’s piece- that I’m not alone in feeling this way, and I feel comforted by that knowledge. The Symphonie Fantastique acts as a consolatory piece for me and helps me move on.

Air date: February 16, 2022

Minuet in G, Ludwig van Beethoven

Suggested by Karen in Portland, Oregon

This is the first piece of classical music I ever heard. It was in the late 1940’s and my family and I lived in a small city in northern Illinois. My third grade teacher, Miss Randall (adults didn’t have first names then, so that is how I knew her), was a lover of classical music and she shared her love with our class. She would bring in her 78 rpm records from home and play them on the “phonograph” (as we called it then) in our classroom. This minuet was the first piece she played for us and I was hooked — for life! It inspired me to beg my parents to let me take piano lessons, which they did the following year. That of course opened a new world to me, This piece takes me back to that first introduction to classical music, which has so enriched my life ever since.

Air date: February 15, 2022

Prelude in D-flat, “Raindrop”, Frederic Chopin

Suggested by Daisy in Bend, Oregon

Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude is one of my favorite romantic pieces to both play and to listen to. I first heard it around this time last year when I began to study piano in college, and I instantly wanted to learn it because of the drama and color the piece portrays. The contrast between the bright, calm opening theme and the dark, dissonant middle section is so beautifully written. You can hear the individual repeated raindrops in the beginning, as well as the thunderstorm that follows. Living in the PNW, I enjoy listening to it on drives through the rain. It really comes to life when paired with the natural, beautiful scenery I'm surrounded by every day.

Air date: February 14, 2022

Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118 No. 2, Johannes Brahms

Suggested by Gabriela in Newberg, Oregon

This was one of the first pieces I ever heard my boyfriend play. And it was after our juries were over, he sat me down in our music theory class room and he played it for me. And I cried, it was so beautiful, and it felt like... envisioning a future with him. And I knew I was safe and loved and in the right relationship. It also is just a truly beautiful piece and I want to include it in our ceremony when we get married :) Don't tell him tho ;)

Air date: February 11, 2022

Scheherazade: III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Suggested by Hoda in Philomath, Oregon

I first heard this as a part of the soundtrack to a series called "Romanoffs," and I thought it was the most beautiful piece I'd ever heard. It's one of those that when you encounter it, you ask yourself: "where has this thing been all my life?" I think it's peaceful, yet incredibly romantic.

Air date: February 10, 2022

Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Claude Debussy

Suggested by Lieutenant Colonel David Beatty in Woodburn, Oregon

I am sponsoring today's music in memory of my father and mother, Russ and Delois Beatty. When I was a wee lad of 9, my father sat first chair clarinet in an orchestra in West Germany and toured all over Europe. One winter, the families were invited to go along on a tour of Bavaria and I was taken out of school for a few weeks and got to ride on the band bus. The orchestra’s director had the most beautiful daughter I’d every seen, who was just my age, and I developed a terrible crush on this lovely girl with flaxen hair – the sort of color and fine texture of corn silk. I was smitten. Everyone said we looked so cute dancing together.

A year later my dad returned to the states and I never saw her again, alas. Imagine my delight when I came across a recording of Debussy’s The Girl With The Flaxen Hair done by my father’s old orchestra! The recording was done 35 years after he had left it but never mind. When I hear this recording I’m taken back to cold winter nights in great halls in Germany, with the beautiful girl with the flaxen hair dancing in my youthful arms.

I would love to hear a recording of The Girl With The Flaxen Hair by the Five Star Brass backed by the Band of the United States Air Forces in Europe under the direction of my friend Major Denny Layendecker. Thank you.

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