Beethoven knocks on leprosy's door

SOROKDO, South Korea - On this small island, long a place of desolation, classical music's most famous first four notes - played by one of its most famous orchestras - pounded into the warm spring day.

"I felt the flow of music was wonderful. My heart seemed to be purified," said one elderly man in this once-isolated leper colony.

He was speaking to a visiting reporter after a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony by Britain's Philharmonia Orchestra last week under the baton of renowned conductor and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.