This delightful disc of chamber music by Alessandro Rolla is played by traditional ensembles (flute quartet) and others that are less customary (piano sextet and viola quintet).

Alessandro Rolla, active in Milan in various capacities (conductor, professor at the newly-created conservatory, concert performer, and organizer of musical events) is stylistically tied to classical composition while simultaneously open to burgeoning Romanticism. He occupies a middle ground between Haydn and Boccherini.

Rolla is an example of a neglected musician who was widely acknowledged in his time as a violinist and, especially, viola virtuoso, composer and teacher and whose contribution to technique, repertoire and history of music is greatly underestimated. Still unknown to the majority of musicians and concert-goers, if remembered, it’s always due to his fame as “teacher of the great Paganini”, yet his role was very important in the development of violin and viola technique.

“Carbotta plays the pieces with a nice tone and an excellent technique” Fanfares