The "amber" concept vs. the "musk" concept

Thinking of Bachelard "Poetry of Space" and then that of the natural elements, I thought that we may divide the esthetic of perfumery in the 20th century in 2 great concepts - The Amber & The Musk. It's not necessary a division made upon clear olfactive qualities but more, a division made upon principles and use of those 2 components in fragrances.
I gave that name in relation with the properties of the natural products in a composition - the liant and the exaltant.

Thinking of what was written about perfumery technique in the first part of the century, there is a subject that came very often, as if it would have been the principal preoccupation or perfumers - the problem of fixation / "how to fix a fragrance" / how to increase persistence, etc. In fact I think that we have here a similarity with the relation between the paintings of Rembrandt and those of Vermeer - the poetry of dark and the poetry of light.
One captures the shadow emphasizing introspection (amber) while the other captures the light being extrovert.
In extremis the "amber" concept gave the dark oriental perfume, sweet and sensual (and even "dirty" with indole & civet) while the "musk" concept gave the clean - "antiperfumery" style.
So, as the relation between the centrifuge and centripetal force in physics, all depends where you are situated in the constant battle between evaporation / tenacity and the way a perfumer wants you to perceive time - perpetual or ephemeral.

The "Amber"
- great importance given on persistence - "how to fix down a perfume, how to keep the more volatiles not out of ephemeral evaporation"
- the perfume is Cartesian - it parts from one source and develops its themes
- use of balms and sweet resins
- the triple accord amber - opopanax - labdanum
- the use of natural tinctures
- amber tincture or similar synthetic used as a "liant" - harmonizer of composition
- rounding off all notes
- classical hierarchic composition - subordination of notes / accords
Ex.: the classical Chypre note, most of Serge Lutens fragrances, the classical aldehydic note (it has a bright depart and a tender coda), the classical fougere note, Pour un Homme Caron.


The "Musk"
- great importance given on diffusion, expansion, "the breath"
- the perfume is "topological" - seems to expand from every where, it surrounds you
- the presence of musk synthetics and analogues
- the presence of Hedione
- morphing replaces the classic evolution
- the musk note (macrocyclic) used as a "exaltator" of composition
- explosion of notes
- non hierarchic composition - presence of different themes with multiple connections
Ex.: Diorissimo (its like a volcano of flowers, a rain of lily notes falling from everywhere), Eau Sauvage (the breath effect and its wavy, sequential apparition), Tresor (the embracing effect and its diffusion in space), En passant (the new interpretation of a classical theme - lilac).