JOSHUA BELL, AGAIN: THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME

The last time Los Angeles heard Joshua Bell in a concert setting, his vehicle was Tchaikovsky’s D-major Concerto. That was 1984, with the Pasadena Symphony. This week, the young Indiana-based violinist--he’s now 18--returns, on this occasion making his Los Angeles Philharmonic/Hollywood Bowl debut on Wednesday as the orchestra opens a preseason week of concerts in Cahuenga Pass.

Bell’s solo vehicle on this occasion? Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Again. But, he says, things won’t be the same. In fact, only the score is unchanged.

“I’ve grown a lot (since ‘84),” he commented during a telephone conversation from his Bloomington home. “I’ve toured Europe with Leonard Slatkin, I’ve signed a recording contract with London/Decca. At a recording session, you know, you have to play the music note-perfect. I’m just starting to think I’m getting there. I couldn’t have done it a year ago.”

It is pure coincidence, he says, that the Tchaikovsky is once more his solo vehicle. Such redundancy fazes him hardly at all. The concerto “is never the same anyway. I’ve performed it so much now, and I know it so well, that I can play around with it--use different fingerings, put in a little slide here or there, alter a phrase. It makes it more fun. There’s more spontaneity.”

Not that Bell is a disrespectful whippersnapper, toying with the classics. He is, he stresses, a serious musician--still learning, still growing. Though a four-year veteran of the international concert scene (he made his debut with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at 14), Bell continues his studies with veteran pedagogue Josef Gingold at the University of Indiana. The young violinist unashamedly admits his love of “the old, traditional style of playing. That’s why I’m in Bloomington. Mr. Gingold relates all these stories from all his years as a musician. There’s just so much that I can get from him beyond the technique.”

One lesson he learned from Gingold is to keep studying. “He talks a lot about (violinist) Mischa Elman,” Bell says. “He’s always felt that when Elman stopped studying at 13 to pursue a solo career, it was a mistake.” Elman, of course, did fairly well on his own. No argument there from Bell. Gingold “has always encouraged me to perform, but he never thought I should play every chance I could. It would be draining.”

PHILHARMONIC PRESEASON: The Wednesday program at Hollywood Bowl is the first of two consecutive programs devoted to the music of Tchaikovsky. In addition to Bell’s reading of the Violin Concerto, the first program, led by Jan Latham-Koenig in his Bowl debut, will include “Romeo and Juliet” and a suite from “Swan Lake.” On Thursday, the program lists the “Pathetique” Symphony and the Piano Concerto No. 1, with Ilana Vered as soloist. Latham-Koenig will again be on the podium.

The Philharmonic gets the night off for the traditional Fourth of July Family Fireworks Picnic Concert, as Lalo Schifrin conducts the Glendale Symphony and USC Trojan Marching Band. Bill Conti (of “Rocky” fame) will be guest conductor. On Saturday, the Philharmonic Institute Orchestra makes its first appearance of the summer, joined by members of the parent orchestra in a program of works by Berlioz, Barber, Respighi and Brahms. Sir Charles Groves conducts.

KIROV ALUMNI REUNION: Natalia Makarova has evidently been renewing old acquaintances of late. The former Kirov and American Ballet Theatre principal paid a visit to the Kirov Ballet during the Soviet company’s recent visit to Wolf Trap Park near Washington, Kirov watcher Judy Cameron reported. “Makarova spent quite a long time visiting with (company director) Oleg Vinogradov and (former dancer) Irina Kolpakova,” Cameron said. “She brought boxes and boxes of presents for the dancers.”

Makarova, of course, was one of the Kirov’s--and the Soviet Union’s--most famous defectors. Another in that club, Mikhail Baryshnikov, recently appeared with Makarova during American Ballet Theatre’s season at the Metropolitan Opera House. The pair danced the “White Swan” pas de deux from “Swan Lake.” This week, Makarova is scheduled to dance in a full-length performance of “Romeo and Juliet” with Kevin McKenzie.

On Friday, yet another ex-Kirov star, Rudolf Nureyev, will dance Albrecht to Marianna Tcherkassky’s Giselle. Nureyev is in New York with his Paris Opera Ballet, readying for a 10-day engagement at the Met.

PEOPLE: Victoria Bond has been named music director of the Roanoke (Virginia) Symphony. The Juilliard graduate is a former Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductor with Andre Previn at the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Roger Wagner, who retired as director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale last season, has been appointed “distinguished professor of choral music” at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Dancer-actor Gregory Hines (“White Nights,” “Sophisticated Ladies,” etc.) will join the Jazz Tap Ensemble during its engagement at the Joyce Theater in New York this fall. The locally based ensemble will appear at the Joyce Sept. 20 through Oct. 5.