Violinist Joshua Bell talks about fiddling and football

Violinist Joshua Bell is 44. He’s been in the international spotlight for 30 years, since his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Violinist Joshua Bell doesn’t stop playing. In fact, he doesn’t stop traveling, either.

“I’m on the road pretty much all months of the year, with little gaps here and there, but it’s pretty much all the way around,” he says by phone from Portland, Ore., where he was preparing to perform Brahms’ “Violin Concerto” with the Oregon Symphony.

That road will bring him to West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center on Jan. 31 and Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on Feb. 2.

“I try to do as much as possible in Florida in the winter months,” Mr. Bell says.

Even so, sometimes he gets snowed in.

“Last year, I had to hire a taxi to drive to the next gig because all the flights were canceled. I made it just in time before the concert,” he says.

Pianist Sam Haywood will accompany Joshua Bell for two concerts in Florida — in West Palm Beach and Sarasota. COURTESY PHOTO That is something he takes in stride.

“I travel all the time. I’ve got friends in almost every city. It’s fun to see them wherever I’m going. It’s a good job,” he says.

His days on the road are filled with fiddling.

“I have a concert tonight. On the day of a concert it’s about finding a good restaurant for lunch, which I’ve found, and practicing in my hotel,” he says. That also includes sneaking in the occasional Scrabble game online with friends, as well as another passion.

“Yesterday, I was in my room watching NFL football while practicing — and I will mourn the end of the football season,” Mr. Bell says. “Fortunately, most people don’t schedule concerts during the Super Bowl.”

He is 44, and has been in the international spotlight for 30 years now, since his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Not bad for a lad who received his first violin at the age of 4, when his parents noticed him plucking rubber bands he had stretched around the handles of his dresser drawers.

He played violin for the soundtrack of the movie “The Red Violin,” and in January, he added another soundtrack to his credits, with the release of “The Flowers of War,” which stars Christian Bale.

He also released a solo disc, titled “French Impressions,” which features works by Ravel, Franck and Saint- Saëns, and which pairs him with pianist Jeremy Denk.

“It’s three different pieces that I’ve been doing my whole life and that I’ve been performing for so long,” he says.

Why record them now?

“Finding a partner like Jeremy Denk, it all came together,” he says. “It was exciting to finally put it down for my grandchildren to have. It’s a legacy for my grandchildren, and I just love these pieces.”

They were pieces he studied with his teacher, violinist Josef Gingold.

“My teacher felt very close to these works,” Mr. Bell says.

Two of the three works, César Franck’s “Violin Sonata in A” and Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D minor,” date from the third quarter of the 19th century.

“This kind of music is so full of color and nuance and beautiful harmonies,” he says, adding, “They’re all about beauty, but not just about that either.”

For example, “The Franck’s a real epic story. For a violinist, this music is so challenging. The violin can advance so many different kinds of sounds,” Mr. Bell says. “They’re all French and the colors of the sounds are very French and yet each one is its own. The Franck just takes it to the limit of expression.”

The third piece on the album, Maurice Ravel’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano,” was composed in the 1920s, and it sounds like it, too, complete with a blues movement.

“He’s sort of looking ahead and looking at this time, when jazz was really exploding and coming to the French scene,” Mr. Bell says. “He was fascinated by other musical languages.”

It is something that can be hard to describe.

“Everything he did has this certain Ravel bent. This is an homage to the jazz idiom,” he says.

It also is a piece that that will be on his Florida programs.

“We’re going do a little bit of Gershwin, too, with the Ravel because they were written about the same time,” Mr. Bell says.

George Gershwin first performed his “Three Preludes” in 1926.

“Gershwin came to Ravel and wanted to study with him,” Mr. Bell says. “Ravel asked how much he made, and said perhaps he should study with Gershwin.”

Another of the works on the program, Eugene Ÿsaye’s “Violin Sonata in D minor,” Op. 27, No. 3, “Ballade,” has a direct link to Mr. Gingold, who studied with the composer and gave the first performance of the piece.

That musical line may continue in Mr. Bell’s own family.

“My 4-year-old is starting to play the cello but he’s only 4,” he says. “I want my kids to enjoy music.”

Perhaps the boy will grow into certain works just as his old man has done.

“That’s the story of our lives as classical musicians. We explore pieces and we come back to them,” he says.

It may be years, sometimes, before he revisits certain works.

“You put them down and you explore them again with new pianists,” he says. “I’ve done the Franck with maybe 15 pianists in my life.”

That is part of achieving a greater truth.

“You still feel like you’re getting better, getting closer to what you think the piece is about.” ¦

>> What: Recital by Joshua Bell, with pianist Sam Haywood >> When: 2 p.m. Jan. 31; pre-performance lecture by Sharon McDaniel is at 12:45 p.m. >> Where: Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. >> Cost: $25 and up >> Info: (561) 832-7469 or www.kravis.org

>> What: Recital by Joshua Bell, with pianist Sam Haywood >> When: 8 p.m. Feb. 2 >> Where: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. >> Cost: $10-$55 >> Info: (800) 826-9303 or www.vanwezel.org