Three distinctive stylistic periods can be observed when analyzing de la Vega’s output. The first roughly covers the works written between 1944 (the Three Preludes for piano or the song cycle La fuente Infinita (“The Infinite Fountain”) for soprano and piano, on poems by José Francisco Zamora) and 1956, the year he composed his Danza Lenta (“Slow Dance”) for piano. Post-Impressionistic harmonic elements, intense chromaticism leading to constant pan-tonality, and his ever present lyricism coupled with vigorous rhythmic activity – at times infused with touches of Cuban rhythmic cells of a folkloristic nature – constitute his vocabulary.

In 1957 de la Vega composed his first totally dodecaphonic work, his String Quartet in Five Movements In Memoriam Alban Berg. Before immigrating to the United States he starts writing in Cuba his Quintet for Winds, to be completed in California in 1959, where his very personal way of handling the twelve-tone techniques is now fully developed. These procedures increase in complexity, a characteristic that marks his second stylistic period that extends up to 1970. Total serialization is now present, for example, in Estructuras (“Structures”), for piano and string quartet (1962), in Interpolation, for solo clarinet with or without pre-recorded sounds (1965), in Exospheres, for oboe and piano (1966), and in Antinomies, for piano (1967).

This second period has been described by musicologist Gilbert Chase as “his most abstract, rigorous, harmonically and melodically abrasive and experimental”. During it, electronic elements make an initial appearance, music graphology becomes at times spatial, and open forms inform some of the works. Then, starting in 1970 with Labdanum, for flute, viola and vibraphone, serial procedures are more and more relaxed and finally abandoned. This marks the start of de la Vega’s third and final period, which extends up to the present.

The third period is de la Vega’s most prolific, and includes many of his most played works, like Intrata, for orchestra (1972); Tangents, for violin and pre-recorded sounds (1973) and Para-Tangents, for trumpet and pre-recorded sounds (1973) – the electronic tracks being the same for both works; the series of graphic hand-colored scores from 1975, 1976 and 1977 (the most famous being The Magic Labyrinth, for any combination of instruments and/or voices); Inflorescencia (“Inflorescence”), for soprano, bass clarinet and pre-recorded sounds, on a poem by the composer (1976); Adiós (“Farewell”), for orchestra (1977); Undici Colori (“Eleven Colors”), for solo bassoon, with or without projection of color transparencies which are eleven collages by de la Vega; Galandiacoa, for clarinet and guitar (1982); Tropimapal, for nine instruments (1983); Memorial de la Ausencia (“Memorial of the Absence”), for cello solo (1985), written in Rio de Janeiro while the composer was the recipient of a Fulbright Research Award; Homenagem In Memoriam Heitor Villa Lobos, for piano (1986); Magias e Invenciones (“Magics and Inventions”), song cycle for soprano and piano, on poems by Gastón Baquero (1986); Testimonial, for female voice and chamber ensemble, on poems by Armando Valladares (1990); Madrigales de Entonces (“Madrigals from Another Time”), for SATB chorus, on poems by Herberto Padilla (1991); Variación del Recuerdo (“Variation of the Remembrance”), for string orchestra (1999); Variación del Recuerdo, Versión II (“Variation of the Remembrance, Version II”), for nine voices, clarinet and two percussionists, on a poem by the composer (2005), and Recordatio (“Remembrance”), for soprano, woodwind quintet and string quintet, on a poem by Emilio Ballagas.

During this last period, de la Vega returned to pan-tonality, completely abandoned serial procedures, the use of open forms diminished progressively until totally disappearing, the lyric and dramatic melodic lines became less and less angular, and the intense rhythmic activity, always present, again occasionally uses cells related to Cuban popular music.