Jericho Sinfonia is an ambitiously diverse, high-concept work by the French saxophonist Christophe Monniot. With the title referencing the biblical episode of Jericho from the chapter of Joshua in The Prophets, the 48-year-old idiosyncratic composer sends musical walls tumbling down with a contemporary symphony that’s imaginatively sourced from an ultra-wide spectrum of idioms. Through his exquisitely written orchestral/ brass arrangements we can hear traces of neo-classical chamber era Stravinsky, Varèse and improvisation that calls on Monniot’s expressive jazz sax and others with its modal, free and more rock-riffing downtown references. Yet everything is filtered organically, steering away from any kind of post-modernist collage. Throughout there’s a significant amount of spoken word and conversational dialogue all in French aside from an interview excerpt with the great controversial Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini and an original Hebrew text quoted from the story of Jericho in The Prophets. The only caveat then is a personal one, that of a (non-musical) language barrier: the question of how everything ties in concept-wise will remain a mystery to non-fluent French speakers like myself (sleeve notes are entirely in French too) on a recording in which words speak as loud as the music itself.