30 Glorious Years!

In celebration of BBC Music Magazine's 30th birthday, we present 30 unmissable albums of the past three decades

The year was 1992. The USSR had split apart and the Cold War had ended - albeit temporarily. In the UK, the Conservative Party under John Major won a fourth term, while the Queen's Ruby Jubilee could not brighten an otherwise 'annus horribilis'. But a far more notable event was on the horizon in September, the first issue of BBC Music Magazine was published.

During the 30 years since that auspicious landmark, the world has changed almost beyond recognition - politically, culturally and by way of the all-encompassing digital revolution. In pop music, all but the most tenacious of artists have faded to make way for a new generation of polished stars, and the classical world, too, has borne witness to exciting new trends - not least in the acceptance of period performance as a mainstream idea (see our interview with Roger Norrington, p44).

But what have been the landmark classical recordings of those 30 years? To try to answer that question, we've asked 30 of our reviewers to name their standout recording - the album that raised the bar technically or musically, introduced us to fascinating new works or presented a new way of understanding well-loved repertoire. No easy task, the exercise has, we think, produced a wonderful tribute to the passion and inventiveness of the classical music world over the past 30 years...

Gounod Mors et Vita