Beethoven was outraged when Napoleon declared himself emperor, and when the latter's army was defeated at the Battle of Vitoria, he used the opportunity to rub some salt in Napoleon's wounds. Wellington's Victory celebrates the British defeat of French forces, which brought about the end of Napoleon's Iberian campaign. It's obvious that Beethoven could scarcely contain his glee in this work, replete with cannon fire and musketry.
Some fancy fingerwork is next with works for keyboard and orchestra by Weber and Haydn. Then we go to Russia with the Orientalism of Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov, the neoclassicism of Prokofiev, and a liturgical piece by Rachmaninoff that sounds as ancient as St. Basil's Cathedral itself.