In a different world, tourists wouldn’t gather outside Abbey Road Studios so that they can stride across the planet’s most famous zebra crossing in homage to a quartet of Liverpudlian pop stars. Instead they’d stand on the front steps and replicate the famous photograph of two of the studio’s first heroes, Yehudi Menuhin and Sir Edward Elgar, the teenage violinist holding the score of the concerto by the 75-year old composer – resplendent in Edwardian suit and walrus moustache – standing beside him.

That was in 1932, 37 years before our pop pioneers stepped out for a 10-minute photo shoot and, in doing so, elevated a quiet north London street into one of the most famous addresses in the world. Thirty-seven years in which EMI’s purpose-built studio had already changed recording history for ever, both in terms of technological development and the creation of some of the most treasured albums in history...

Elgar Violin Concerto

Yehudi Menuhin vn LSO / Elgar

Perhaps Abbey Road’s defining recording, this finds the 13-year-old Menuhin under the composer’s baton for what remains one of the great interpretations of the Concerto.

Read more: Why Edward Elgar was more than just an English gentleman

‘Russian Opera Arias and Songs’

Boris Christoff bass Philharmonia Orchestra / Issay Dobroven

A young Christoff caught in the most beautiful of voice, in roles he was to make his own onstage.

Elgar Sea Pictures

Janet Baker mez LSO / Barbirolli 

Coupled with the equally inspired account of the Cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pré (recorded elsewhere), Baker is at her matchless best here.

See also: Top 10 Elgar recordings

Wagner Wesendonck Lieder

Janet Baker mez LPO / Boult 

Janet Baker’s Wesendonck Lieder, like her Elgar Sea Pictures, is so infused with the force of her musical personality that her account bears any comparison.

See also: Top 10 Wagner recordings

Debussy Images. Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune, etc

LSO / Previn

This, EMI’s first digital classical music recording, used the new technology to show off the colour palette of Previn’s LSO.

Read more: The Debussy legacy

Brahms Cello Sonatas

Jacqueline du Pré vc Daniel Barenboim pf 

The real-life partnership between these two musicians is carried over into thrilling music-making here.

Read more: Jacqueline du Pré and Elgar's Cello Concerto

Tavener The Protecting Veil

Steven Isserlis vc LSO / Rozhdestvensky

This wonderfully soulful premiere recording caught the public imagination and brought Isserlis and Tavener to wider fame.

Podcast: The Bach Cello Suites, with Steven Isserlis

Puccini La rondine

Roberto Alagna ten Angela Gheorghiu sop LSO / Pappano

This entry in Pappano’s Puccini series rescued the opera from obscurity and won the team Gramophone’s Record of the Year Award.

Read more: Top 10 Opera Composers

Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony

Soloists; LSO / Haitink 

A European view of this English seafaring work brought the exciting turbulence of foreign oceans, visionary conducting and a Gramophone Award.

Read more: Ralph Vaughan Williams – how his visionary music has influenced today’s composers

Wagner Tristan und Isolde

Plácido Domingo ten Nina stemme sop ROH Orchestra / Pappano

Domingo delivers a Tristan of great and moving stature in a production that draws superb music-making from all the artists involved.

Read more: Wagner's Tristan und Isolde – the opera that changed music