Many people still remember Joshua Bell as the 14-year-old child prodigy who made national headlines in 1982 when he became the youngest person to solo with the famed Philadelphia Orchestra.

He is now 32. And just as the passing years have brought increased depth to the playing of Yo-Yo Ma, as the cellist's recital last month vividly showed, they have enhanced Bell's artistry on the violin.

His always-dazzling technique remains, but now there is a heightened musical intelligence and seasoned expressiveness to go along with it. The old cockiness has been replaced by a more sustainable and appealing self-confidence.

In short, he is a mature master musician. Nowhere was that more evident than in the opening work of his Sunday evening recital at the Lied Center for Performing Arts - Aaron Copland's Sonata for Violin and Piano.

While this piece is by no means a breeze technically, it demands more of the violinist as an interpreter than as a virtuoso. And it was on those terms that Bell delivered, right from his captivating evocation of the unhurried opening phrases, with their sense of awakening and wonder.

More pleasures awaited in the final two movements, particularly his probing, reflective take on the slow movement - often little more than a series of sustained notes, perhaps unheard calls in some dark world.

After this memorable salute to the 100th anniversary year of Copland's birth, Bell turned to more familiar repertoire, burrowing into the romanticism of Johannes Brahms' Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108.

Bell offered a full-flavored performance, losing himself in the gentleness of the slow second movement and exploding in the final movement with impressive energy and power.

As was clear in this piece, what has not changed about Bell from his earliest concert days are his inner fire and his need to be in a kind of battle with the music. He bobs and weaves with almost every note, often stretching his body upward, seemingly trying to pull a last bit of expressiveness from his instrument.

The violinist opened the second half with an appropriately jazzy and unfettered performance of Jascha Heifetz's arrangements of three preludes by George Gershwin. Then he turned to Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano.

As he had on each of the other works on this program, Bell embraced the spirit of this decidedly French yet quite distinctive work. It ranges from an otherworldly dreaminess to a European and quite original take on the blues.

Both the Gershwin and Ravel works provided particularly good opportunities to savor the playing of the evening's other performer - pianist Simon Mulligan. He proved to be a solid accompanist and an accomplished artist in his own right.

The two concluded with a couple of short virtuoso showpieces.

A box-office spokeswoman said the paid attendance was about 1,100, but some tickets went unclaimed, presumably because of the snow.