Alessandro Rolla (Pavia 1757 - Milan 1841) was one of the finest exponents of Italian instrumental music between the 18th and the 19th centuries. Born in a then Austrian Lombardy, he was a great admirer of Haydn and Mozart, and an outstanding virtuoso on both the violin and the viola, which created the long-maintained belief that he taught Paganini. The classic ”proportions” of Rolla’s style are clearly evident in the six elegant Duets for flute and violin here recorded by Mario Carbotta and Luigi Alberto Bianchi; the three Caprices for viola, instead, reveal the virtuosity of Rolla’s compositions for this instrument, which are unquestionably on a par with the more famous Paganinian ones.