Passing the baton at the San Francisco Chamber

The program on Sunday was also out of the ordinary. It featured not one but three of the most unusual symphonies in the repertoire, beginning with Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. Why Schubert wrote only two of the four movements of a regular classical symphony or whether he might have written the other two but they’ve been misplaced and never found in 200 years is unknown. Regardless, the “Unfinished” is a dark and brooding work that exceeds in passion and intensity even the most passionate and intense symphonies of Beethoven or of any composer to come for half a century.

The orchestra did this masterwork justice, giving a sterling performance with dedication and commitment. Even the instrumental balance worked fairly well, despite the SFCO being severely underpopulated in the strings in comparison to the full double woodwind required here.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: the “Unfinished” was fairly matched with an “Unbegun Symphony,” which presents only the last two movements of a symphony. This is a work by Peter Schickele, written for his satirical “P.D.Q. Bach” concerts. It’s “Unbegun” not only in lacking a symphonic opening but in containing no original material whatever. It consists entirely of a pastiche of familiar themes, most of them by classical composers, plus some old-time popular tunes. These are set against each other or in succession with unexpected shifts in harmony. This version was embellished beyond what I’ve heard on record.

Not only is the material recycled, so are some of the juxtapositions. Setting the quickstep theme from Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” in counterpoint with “You Are My Sunshine” had already been done in a piece for the Boston Pops by Allan Sherman, the 1960s song parodist.

After untuning, instead of tuning up, the musicians presented this comic bonbon with the same commitment they gave to Schubert. It came out quite delightfully.

The concert appropriately concluded with Joseph Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony. This is the one which concludes with the musicians gradually leaving the stage while their colleagues play on, ending with just two violins (here, concertmaster Robin Sharp and Debra Fong) still performing. Even the conductor had walked off by that point. This feature was Haydn’s gentle hint to his aristocratic employer that the musicians needed a vacation.

For many decades, the “Farewell” was the only earlier Haydn symphony often played. The strange, dark and jagged energy of its outer movements make it a closer precursor to the “Unfinished” than other Haydn or Mozart symphonies are. Like the other symphonies on the program, it received a vivid performance that conveyed the work’s distinctive character.

The concert was filled out with Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, perhaps the most popular work of its kind. Again the orchestra was in fine shape. The soloist was the real star, however. Amaryn Olmeda is a student at the San Francisco Conservatory who is already making a name for herself as a soloist with a variety of orchestras, some of them quite distinguished. This is properly so. Her clear and plain-spoken playing style is crisp, emphatic and with a well-textured tone. She puts forth the concerto without mannerisms or affectation but also with charm and a compelling thrust that keeps the music thrilling.

The audience voted on Olmeda’s encore by placing $20 donations into a choice of buckets. The winning piece, gently accompanied by the orchestra, was the “Sicilienne” attributed to the 18th-century composer Maria Theresia von Paradis.

The concert concluded with the traditional New Year’s playing of the traditional tune for “Auld Lang Syne.” In between verses, Simon handed over the virtual baton (neither of them actually uses one) to his newly-appointed successor, Cosette Justo Valdés. The first concert under her direction will be a chamber music program with works by less usual but worthy 20th century composers such as Amy Beach and Erwin Schulhoff, plus a new commission by Jonathan Bingham. This will come to Palo Alto’s First United Methodist Church on Saturday, Feb. 25.