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How is brillante played?
The performer plays in a showy, sparkling and spirited style, projecting glitter and display. Brillante connects to the 19th-century 'style brillant', the virtuoso idiom of pianist-composers such as Hummel, Field, Ries and Weber, prized for dazzling figuration and ornamental flourish. The word often appears in titles to signal a virtuosic concert piece, as in Chopin's 'Grande valse brillante', Op. 18, whose waltzes were idealized concert music rather than functional dance. As a marking it asks the player to bring out brilliance, clarity and effervescent surface energy.
How does brillante sound?
Sparkling, glittering and spirited, with a showy, virtuosic surface.
In context
Brillante is defined in standard glossaries as 'brilliantly, with sparkle — play in a showy and spirited style'. It links to the 19th-century 'style brillant' associated with Hummel, Field, Ries and Weber, and appears in the title of Frédéric Chopin's 'Grande valse brillante', Op. 18 (1834).