When the Colorado Symphony announced recently that it would hold a series of bring-your-own-marijuana fund-raisers, called “Classically Cannabis: The High Note Series,” sponsored by the state’s newly legal cannabis industry, the orchestra got laughs on late-night talk shows and was featured in publications that rarely cover classical music, including High Times.

Now the city of Denver is asking the orchestra to call off the events, arguing that they would run afoul of laws prohibiting the public consumption of marijuana. The symphony, which planned the fund-raisers as private events in an effort to comply with the law, is mulling whether it can go ahead with the first one, scheduled for May 23.

With the fund-raiser concerts now in legal limbo, the time seems ripe to consider some of the artistic possibilities of cannabis-friendly classical concerts. Before the city raised its objections to the Colorado Symphony’s plans, The New York Times asked several prominent conductors, composers and musicians what they would program to appeal to concertgoers taking advantage of Colorado’s recent referendum legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

Alan Gilbert, the music director of the New York Philharmonic, suggested Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique,” which musically depicts an opium dream in parts, and “The Poem of Ecstasy,” by the Russian composer Scriabin, who became fascinated by mysticism late in his life. “Does Scriabin’s ‘Poem of Ecstasy’ really need an explanation?” he asked in an email.