For A Better Tomorrow

Composer(s) / Arranger(s): Luis-Angel Gonzalez

Performance Time: 10:48  |  Grade: 4  |  Style: Contemporary

“For a Better Tomorrow” was composed in memory of my mother, Estela Haydee González, who passed away from a heart attack on the night of February 23rd, 2014. The work received its premier performance at the CSU, Fresno Concert Hall on May 5th, 2016 by the Fresno State University Wind Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Gary P. Gilroy. The piece tells a story of my mother during her life, and after her passing, as I perceived it.

The work, as a whole, above all else, is a symbol of hope. The title, “For A Better Tomorrow”, was inspired by a phrase I repeatedly told myself since the day my mother passed on: “Tomorrow will be a better day.” In other words, I was constantly hoping “for a better tomorrow”, in the sense that the day would come that I’d eventually be able to adapt to living a life without my mother around.

The opening unfolds with a solo Flute and sparse sounds of bells and chimes (from a bell tree and mark tree), representing the sparkling of stars, as the name Estela in Spanish means ‘Star’. These celestial sounds appear twice through the piece, representing her life on Earth and then in the Heavens. The piece was written with two main themes, the first symbolizing my mother and her love and warmth that radiated from her. The second main theme represents her legacy which she left after she passed on. Though the work has an overall major tonality, the interlude is sullen and thoroughly highlights the period of sadness and sorrow which my family, and more specifically, I went through. I chose the solo English Horn to be the deliverer of this pivotal point in the piece because I feel the instrument has a melancholy tone to it. It is a brief segment of the piece because, with the help of loved ones, we (my family and I) were able to overcome this period of grief in a rather brief amount of time.

The climax of the work calls briefly for the use of two sets of chimes to be used on opposite sides of the concert hall to emulate the church bells that rang at the close of my mother’s funeral mass. The music begins to wind down after the climax’s peak, followed by a soft Euphonium, playing a phrase of the first main theme to close the work. The musical quote is a symbol that my mother is still alive – she is still with us – she lives in the hearts of those who stood beside her, and those who she touched…”