Thirty-five years in the making, the first comprehensive catalog of cello music has been released, compiling nearly 45,000 titles by 15,000 composers. As the publisher’s companion website (cellocompanion.com) states, “This unique project to compile all music ever written for cello solo—published or unpublished—is intended to be a reference work that will quickly become every cellist’s companion.”

The cello works are listed alphabetically in fine print and can be looked up by composer, opus number, or by title. The content includes works for cello solo, duos, cello and piano, cello and orchestra, cello ensemble music, methods and studies, and many others. For the most part, chamber-music works have been excluded unless the cello has a solo function. The website also says, “although many titles have been translated into English, whenever possible titles have been left in their original language,” which should allow users to reference a title by the name with which they are familiar.

The book includes an index listed by instrumentation. Covering more than 300 years of published music, out-of-print editions, unpublished manuscripts, titles mentioned only in reference books, and self-published works, this volume is truly encyclopedic, and would be a valuable resource for cellists who desire to know about all the cello music that is available.