Joshua Bell, violinist

It was the misfortune of the young Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti to have had her recital scheduled the evening before that of Joshua Bell, hosted by Washington Performing Arts Society at Strathmore on Wednesday night. The comparison was damning, as Bell’s technique is practically unassailable and he was playing a program of late 19th- and early 20th-century music, in which he excels as an interpreter. If it is Romantic, ardent, passionate, sweet, Bell at his best will draw the perfect soaring or sotto voce line from his Gibson ex-Huberman, a 1713 Stradivarius instrument that is matched beautifully to his strengths. Of all of his recent appearances in the area — his 2008 recital at the Kennedy Center, his unannounced stint in the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station in 2007, and his 2006 concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra — this was the best program and the strongest performance.

One criticism that could be raised against Bell’s approach to music is that his tone is too consistently pretty, that after listening to him play for two hours, one’s teeth hurt from all that sugary legato. Indeed, the strongest works of the evening were the more bitingly dissonant ones, especially Leoš Janáček’s violin sonata, which opened the concert. With fewer long-breathed melodies to indulge in, Bell embraced the impetuous speech-like character of this music, like so much of Janáček’s music influenced by his study of the rhythms of Czech speech and his study of folk music. The chattering motifs of the first movement were balanced by the profound calm of the second, and the raucous roulades and modal, clownish tunes of the third. Bell’s attention to using a full range of dynamics and tone colors was matched by his expressive partner, pianist Jeremy Denk, who kept pace with Bell through it all. One hopes that a recording of the work is planned.