Matthew Kaplan - El mito de Sísifo: New works by Leo Brouwer (2026)

New York–based classical guitarist Matthew Kaplan has released "El mito de Sísifo: New Works by Leo Brouwer," a portrait of the late compositional voice of Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, gathering solo and chamber works written mostly from the late 2000s through 2023.

The project traces back to 2018, when Kaplan was chosen to perform for Brouwer himself at a masterclass at Mannes College of Music, during the maestro's first U.S. lecture tour in over thirty years. Kaplan played "Paisaje cubano con campanas" for him, an experience that reshaped how he understood Brouwer's approach to sound and dynamics.

Later, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Brouwer composed "Trois Nouvelles Études," a set of three etudes inspired by Chopin's work of the same title, each written in memory of a French philosopher — Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jacques Derrida. Drawn to philosophy himself, Kaplan learned and performed the etudes, then proposed to Ediciones Espiral Eterna the idea of a piece built around Albert Camus's "Myth of Sisyphus" and his philosophy of the absurd. Brouwer agreed, composing "El mito de Sísifo para guitarra" in 2023 and dedicating it to Kaplan — the album's title track, presented here as a world premiere recording.

The record also includes "El Libro de los seres imaginarios" (2018, with guitarist Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla), four movements based on Borges's "Book of Imaginary Beings," dedicated to the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo; "Lorquianas" (2018, with cellist Mark Humburg), written in memory of Federico García Lorca; "Guerra del tiempo" (2019, with pianist Isidora Vladic), inspired by Cuban writer Alejandro Carpentier; "Isla de rojo coral" (2022, with violinist David Brown); a trio arrangement of "Fuga cubana" by Alberto La Rocca; and the closing "Cantilena de los bosques" (2007), developed from a 1960 piano theme by Brouwer.

The album was authorized by Leo Brouwer and Ediciones Espiral Eterna, recorded primarily on a guitar by luthier Matt Rubendall (with the etudes captured on an instrument by Brian Itzkin), and mixed and mastered by Stelios Mihas.

Tracklist:
1-1 Matthew Kaplan;Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla - El libro de los seres imaginarios - I. El Unicornio [3:18]
1-2 Matthew Kaplan;Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla - El libro de los seres imaginarios - II. El Minotauro [3:02]
1-3 Matthew Kaplan;Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla - El libro de los seres imaginarios - III. Hadas y Gnomos [4:13]
1-4 Matthew Kaplan;Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla - El libro de los seres imaginarios - IV. La Gorgona y la Mantícora [6:04]
1-5 Matthew Kaplan - Preludio de las campanas [3:13]
1-6 Matthew Kaplan - Paisaje cubano con campanas [6:56]
1-7 Matthew Kaplan;Mark Humburg - Lorquianas - I. Memento [3:55]
1-8 Matthew Kaplan;Mark Humburg - Lorquianas - II. Madragalillo [3:11]
1-9 Matthew Kaplan - Trois Nouvelles Études - I. La ruta de las máscaras (In memoriam Claude Lévi-Strauss) [3:24]
1-10 Matthew Kaplan - Trois Nouvelles Études - II. El ser y la nada (In memoriam Jean-Paul Sartre) [4:08]
1-11 Matthew Kaplan - Trois Nouvelles Études - III. El diálogo eterno (In memoriam Jacques Derrida) [3:28]
1-12 Matthew Kaplan;Isidora Vladic - Guerra del tiempo [8:20]
1-13 Matthew Kaplan - El mito de Sísifo [6:07]
1-14 Matthew Kaplan;David Brown - Isla de rojo coral - I. [8:47]
1-15 Matthew Kaplan;David Brown - Isla de rojo coral - II. [3:55]
1-16 Matthew Kaplan;José Maldonado;Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla - Fuga cubana [2:28]
1-17 Matthew Kaplan - Cantilena de los bosques [3:51]