SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

In the opening moments of violinist Joshua Bell’s warm, communicative recital Sunday, he played the sweet simplicity of the opening Siciliano theme of Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 4 in C minor with melting beauty. His clarity of tone, pinpoint articulation and unerring intonation would seem to make Bell a natural match for the music of J.S. Bach, but the Allegro that followed exposed a surprising weakness in his arsenal. Despite admirable precision, there was no spring to the rhythm. It chugged along lightly and efficiently. It was pleasant, but not nearly as rewarding as the rest of his program, which featured gorgeous sonatas by Grieg, Schumann and Ravel.

Part of my disappointment with the Bach may lie with pianist Jeremy Denk, a regular collaborator with Bell. He seemed more attuned to coaxing subtle, supple qualities of tone and phrasing from the piano than to digging in with any rhythmic bite. His approach paid dividends in the slow movements of all four sonatas. His seamless playing underlined similarly long, arching phrasing from Bell. But in the faster sections, rather than going for crisp articulation, both of them seemed to want more legato than Bach may have intended.

As often as I have heard Bell play, I can’t recall a recital. Mostly he has played concertos with full orchestra, occasionally chamber works in quartets and quintets at festivals. And I can’t recall having heard him play Bach. As the rest of his program demonstrated, he’s so much better in Romantic and more modern music. The bigger the gesture, the more apt his approach. His immaculate technique kept things from ever going over the top.

After the tepid Bach sonata, the Grieg Sonata No. 3 in C minor was a revelation. Full of sonic color and contrasts, singing phrases and fiery cascades of notes, it features all of the charms that typify this Norwegian composer.

After intermission, things got even better with Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 in A minor. Alternately sweet and febrile, the music played to Bell’s strengths, his ability to breathe through long phrases and make the music pulse forward.

The best, however, was the Ravel Sonata for Violin and Piano. Especially charming was the slow movement, which Ravel identified as a “blues.” Although few jazz artists might recognize it as such, it does bend a few notes and progress at a slow-drag tempo, ending on a flatted seventh. Bell’s American sense of style fit the music perfectly, striking a nice balance between Gallic élan and that early 20th century fascination with the exotic. In the finale, the rush of perpetual-motion phrases brought things to a fine finish.

For an encore, Bell flapped his bow hand in fatigue to explain why he was limiting it to just one, but it was a beauty: Fritz Kreisler’s Slavonic Fantasy on themes of Dvorak, deftly played.

Harvey Steiman