Violinist Joshua Bell gets better by age, but Tuesday night he got better by chronology.

That's a convoluted way to say that, in his recital at Heinz Hall with pianist Jeremy Denk, Bell displayed more sensitivity to compositions by Grieg (Violin Sonata No. 3) and Ravel (Sonata for Violin and Piano) than he did for earlier works by Bach (Violin Sonata No. 4) and Schumann (Violin Sonata No. 1).

When I first saw this program, it immediately made me wonder if Bell is using this recital tour to show his "serious" side. Lately, America's most bankable classical violinist has been involved in projects outside of the classical core. His latest CD, "Joshua Bell At Home With Friends," is chock full of duets with pop stars such as Sting, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth and others. Bell is front and center on two film soundtracks: "Angels & Demons" and "Defiance." There are other examples, but the collaboration from a few years' back with Edgar Meyer playing folk music still stands out, too.

It's not that a musician of Bell's talent shouldn't play different genres. It's a matter of balance. Too much of the light stuff (not a judgment by me) and you risk losing some credibility with those who love the heavy, canonical stuff. Taking this program of Bach, Schumann, Grieg and Ravel on the road is just the sort of thing that can prove you are still serious, even if you'll busk in the subway as fodder for a columnist.

The problem comes if you program music for that reason, and not because you have a great connection to it. I am not saying Bell did this, but Tuesday night, anyway, he didn't display a compelling aesthetic bond to the Bach and Schumann works. Both plodded along, without convincing phrasing or energy.

Perhaps in a nod to performance practice, Bell pulled back his volume and bow stroke for the Bach, which left it effete at times and even a little flat (he was sliding to pitches constantly). Also, Denk tended to overpower him. The Schumann sonata found Bell swimming in dark harmonies, unable to shine an interpretive light on the work.

Conversely, Bell's penchant for drama made the bravura sonata by Grieg explode off the stage, and then his feel for blues and contemporary music pulled the audience in for every nuance of Ravel's colorful work.

The duo's treatment of Grieg's essay was masterful. After a turbulent first theme, played like a summer thunderstorm, and a second theme drenched in mysterious harmonies, Bell and Denk traded motifs and upward surges as if they have been playing together their whole lives. Denk is a remarkably easy-going pianist, never seeming to be in a hurry to hit the most difficult of runs. His introduction to the second movement was scene-stealing and scene-setting at the same time. Later, his playing of a repeated note in a crossover with the left hand -- the first soft and the second a whisper of pianissimo -- was exquisite.

Bell was extraordinary and at home in Ravel's Sonata, with its references to America's music. While Bell's virtuosity came through clearly here -- witness the extended tremolo sequence -- it was his feel for jazz and blues in the background of the work that made it sing in a sultry manner. The "perpetual motion" of the finale brought it all home.

I don't know if Bell is feeling the pressure to be both a crossover artist who can help to save classical music and a serioso musician who can play everything in the canon, but he appears to be programming his career that way.

I am sure Bell adores Bach and Schumann. But in this recital, at least, it was obvious that he had more to say with Grieg and Ravel.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.