Leonard Bernstein, the great conductor/composer who frequently fronted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra is probably smiling in heaven about now.

A huge talent whose contributions to American music are unquestioned, nevertheless had a notorious soft spot for communist dictators. So it no doubt has pleased his ghost that his orchestra is playing North Korea.

It is the first time an American cultural organization had made an appearance in North Korea and it represented the largest contingent of Americans to set foot in the communist country since the end of the Korean war:

As the New York Philharmonic played the opening notes of “Arirang,” a beloved Korean folk song, a murmur rippled through the audience. Many in the audience perched forward in their seats.

The piccolo played a long, plaintive melody. Cymbals crashed, harp runs flew up, the violins soared. And tears began forming in the eyes of the staid audience, row upon row of men in dark suits, women in colorful high-waisted dresses called hanbok and all of them wearing pins with the likeness of Kim Il-sung, the nation’s founder.

And right there, the Philharmonic had them. The full-throated performance of a piece deeply resonant for both North and South Koreans ended the historic concert in this isolated nation on Tuesday in triumph.

On Wednesday, North Korea’s main state-controlled daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, gave a brief account of the concert, with a picture of the orchestra, on an inside page. Of Lorin Maazel, the Philharmonic’s music director, it said, “His performance was very sophisticated and sensitive.”