Josef Suk will be 80 on August 8. The elder statesman of Czech violinists, he is also the grandson of Josef Suk the composer (for whom he was named) and great-grandson of Dvorak, so it is doubly appropriate that the first of these two timely archival issues should feature the latter's Concerto. Recorded at the Proms in 1964, this is a fluent, beautifully phrased account (with sensitive support from Sargent and the BBC Symphony Orchestra), embodying the key facets of Suk's playing: the music first, virtuoso display second when required - and never for its own sake - delivered with a full, sweet tone. Throughout the Dvorak one can hear Suk's inner connection with this music, working at a deeper level than even as persuasive a modern advocate as Pamela Frank (Decca, nla) can muster. No wonder the audience applauded so ecstatically. Paul Baily's superb remastering renders this 45-year-old performance as fresh as it was on the night.

These same qualities of performance and recording apply equally to the expansive account of Beethoven's Concerto (for all Sargent's attempts to intensify the pace) from a year later. Of course, competition in this work is considerably stiffer than with the Dvorak, even within the historical category. None the less, this too is a fine rendering of great poetry and feeling, the push and pull of pulse adding an extra frisson of electricity to the playing. No such concerns about the Martinu recordings made in Prague's Rudolfinium in 1973 (violin concertos) and 1987 (Rhapsody- Concerto). The First Concerto (1932-33) had then only recently been rediscovered; indeed, Suk had premiered it (with Solti in Chicago) only a few months earlier. His fully formed accounts of this and its successor made him the pre-eminent interpreter of Martinu's violin music for decades, only recently challenged by Matousek for Hyperion. In these excellently remastered recordings (by Oldrich Slezak), Suk is confirmed as a front runner still and his approach in No 2 makes fascinating listening when compared to Isabelle Faust's superb account. In the Rhapsody-Concerto, with even finer sound, Suk is very competitive compared to Matousek's full-price version and even if one prefers to collect the Hyperion set of all the violin-plus-orchestral works, this Supraphon disc is still highly recommendable.