A zing in Yings’ strings

A succession of small courses in various modes, textures and resonances, all contrasting with one another in a satisfying entirety. Such was the provocative and novel program the compelling Ying Quartet offered in the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series Wednesday night.

And this substantial meal of music by living Chinese composers and Ravel delightfully complemented what preceded it -- a supper of dim sum. Both were served tastefully in the Empress Pavilion in Chinatown.

The quartet is made up of Chinese American siblings -- violinists Timothy and Janet Ying, violist Phillip Ying and cellist David Ying -- who specialize in music by living writers. Their program contained short but engaging pieces by Chen Yi, Tan Dun and Zhou Long, each work asserting its individual composer’s vision succinctly.

Completed by two movements from the Quartet in F by Ravel, the total gave a balanced representation of the Yings’ versatility, passionate performing style and admirable technical accomplishment.

In an intensely focused hourlong performance, the young ensemble -- formed in 1988 at the Eastman School, where the four were trained -- showed a commitment to music its members obviously love. There were no lapses of interest, no treading of water, only enlightened advocacy of the music at hand.

Three of Tan Dun’s neo-Impressionistic “Eight Colors” showed the Yings’ many sound resources, carefully utilized. But the most arresting new music was three excerpts from Chen Yi’s riotously colorful “At the Kansas City Chinese New Year” -- a work still in progress -- that whetted the appetite for more sections of this large canvas.

The Ravel confirmed the Yings’ versatility and musical achievement. And their comments added articulation to the joys of the evening, sponsored by the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College.