[3] With his Sinfonias breves (1959–60) he became the first Portuguese composer to adopt integral serialism techniques.
[3] He came into contact with Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen during Darmstadt courses in 1960 and 1961.
Abroad he has conducted the RPO and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, as well as the orchestras which feature in his recordings (see below).
[4] In 2009, the President of Portugal awarded him the degree of Grand Officer of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his career.
[5] He has recorded many highly successful CDs for the Strauss, Portugalsom, Marco Polo and Naxos record labels, notably a series of recordings of Portuguese composers for Naxos with the Bournemouth Symphony, the City of London Sinfonia, the Northern Sinfonia, the National Orchestra of Ireland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, among others.