Basses in the Orchestra
I agree Ken. I sit between a fabulous Gagliano and Ventepane bass in the Rochester Philharmonic played by two wonderful and seasoned bassists and my old Mittenwald bass keeps pace with these two Italian instruments. Between the three of us in the back row of the section, we put out a lot of sound. And it's not a matter of volume but quality and depth of sound.
Like the Mittenwald basses discussed here, both these Italian basses are perfled in the front but NOT in the back. They are Gamba shape with flat backs. The Ventapane has a 44 inch string length and the player has the same bridge that came with the bass in the late 1960s when there were still gut strings on the bass. Both have been cut down.
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