Preludio d'Oriente
Calé (2008)

The opening of Preludio d'Oriente is super cool: a basic, martial, bright and ultra aromatic woody accord (cedar, oak) with spices (cumin?) and a green, bitter, realistic note of artemisia providing a sort of sour and bitter crunchiness. The woody accord is initially beyond brilliant: it's, dry, fresh, organic and natural like a freshly cut piece of wood. I appreciate the effort of building something more credible than the average woody notes. The first stages of Preludio d'Oriente are all about this, a bright and quiet harmony of woody-earthy-dry notes elaborated in a really austere and essential way – something like Lutens' Chene, a luminous, aromatic, slightly sweet type of wood, with – as a plus – that green sour aftertaste. Then, it soon emerges the incense note, which is rather simple, a bit plain honestly, mostly synthetic à la Cardinal or Jovoy (no olibanum-resinous complexity, rather just some grey modern Iso E note). Finally also the leather note emerges after a while, which is - again - a dry, monotone and a bit depressing conventional synthetic leather accord (which luckily vanishes soon - I don't get its point in this composition, but I won't argue the nose). So, basically, departing from the beautiful initial woody-green accord, it then turns into a darker and drier woody-incense scent, overall discreet, a bit sour yet, quite dry and basic. Still decent, even if it soon starts to become more and more "synthetic", as if the natural and organic feel of the first stage was just a facade which now (after some couple of hours) starts to collapse. And sooner than you expected, you start to smell this chemical, pungent, rubbery-charcoal feel all below the blend, in a more and more perceivable (and annoying) way. In short: "good" at first, "ok" for a while, finally "meh" (I'm being generous with the latter).

5,5-6/10

Absolutely enchanted by this amazing concoction and I have to say utterly surprised at moment by Cale' Fragranze d'Autore after my first experience with the interesting Fulgor, another gem. Preludio d'Oriente is a silky combination of moderately resinous frankincense, well appointed oudh and velvety leather. All is harmonic, balanced, pleasantly boots polish-like and finally almost sericeous. The beginning introduces by soon an un-medicinal note of measured "polished" oudh combined with perfectly orchestrated (slightly oily) hesperides and aromatic patterns. The incense rises up in a while (I feel the agarwood resin before it) and is perfectly aligned with oud and soft leather in to a dark smooth general harmony. There is throughout a sort of spicy-fruity rum secret undertone (vaguely spicy orangy-apricot-like) perfectly joined with suede and resins in to a combination conjuring me more than vaguely the Clive Christian C for Man/Puredistance M's suede paint (plus an incensey touch a la CdG Avignon/By Kilian Incense Oud). Dark woods and patchouli provide stableness and drier consistency to a surprisingly smooth woody-leathery resinous dry down. Class and velvety luxury.

Very mysterious fragrance from Cale. In Turkey, we sometimes use sweetgum tree (storax-liquidambar orientalis) resin for stomach troubles and other health issues. Preludio d'oriente reminds me of it but of course it has much more sophisticated touch to it.

Not a smoky incense edt, herbal and very green yet not a happy blend. Like you just put some herbs on a burning incense stick.

This one is an introvert choise for me. When i need to be alone, this sanctuary type odour lift my spirit.

At first spray, it starts very green and herbal (artemisia and citrus) but in minutes slowly growing warmth of sandalwood and oud takes this fragrance above some other substitutes that i possess; such as CdG Zagorsk, Meo Fusciuni 1#Nota di Viaggio.

Should be experienced for incense lovers. Thumbs up.

Preludio d'Oriente opens with just the faintest trace of bergamot, quickly combining with what starts out as a relatively subdued clove-like incense. The incense grows and grows throughout the heart of the scent, until it is quite strong, obscuring almost all of the supporting notes save a smooth leather accord that appears in the background until the dry-down. Once the base notes arrive, the incense aggressively recedes and a very nice patchouli and sandalwood tandem takes its place, with only the faintest hint of the incense remaining now as support. Projection is above average and longevity is average.

I immediately loved Preludio d'Oriente. Its clove-like incense is just really sublime smelling, and is near reference caliber. The patchouli and sandalwood dry-down is somewhat unexpected after the incense taking center stage from the start, if just a tad unoriginal. Unoriginal the dry-down may be, but it definitely works here. I would say Preludio d'Oriente is right behind my reference incense, Incense Oud by Kilian, joining greats like CdG's Avignon as "must try" scents in the incense category. In some ways, it can be argued that Preludio d'Oriente is a more "complete" scent than either of those two greats. I'll not take up that debate, rather encouraging incense lovers to experience all three of them. In the case of Preludio d'Oriente, I give it an excellent 4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars.

This is an hidden gem. One of those fragrances that fly under the radar but should definitely deserve much more attention.

Preludio D'Oriente moves in the same direction as other compositions a-la Avignon / Cardinal but where these two stay pretty linear in reproducing the liturgical frankincense, PDO is enriched by dark dry woods, leather and a tiny amount of oud. The opening is quite severe with a consistent incense note enhanced in its lemony aspect by astringent artemisia and citruses. Dry woods and leather join the party right away turning the fragrance into a darker and misterious composition that continuely moves on the thin line bewteen harshness and warmness while manitaining a perfect balance. Oud is subtle, toned down, restrained and used just to give some extra boldness to this marvellous composition.

Embracing, dark and misterious. Top quality stuff!