The quartet had to accept the concerts that their government allowed them to do . They played at the funerals of the dictator Stalin and the composer Sergei Prokofiev which were on the same day ( both men died on 5 March 1953 . As one of the most revered groups during the Communist era , the quartet performed at the funerals of both Joseph Stalin and Sergei Prokofiev , who both died on the same day in 1953 .