杜梅這張全孟德爾遜專輯，有趣在《E小調小提琴協奏曲》以外的三分二篇幅，配上《F大調小提琴奏鳴曲》（1838年那首），以及九首《無言歌》用小提琴及鋼琴演奏，卻反而是我興趣最低的協奏曲（軌一至三），我最喜歡。
因為杜梅陽剛及溫柔兼備，當多數人在此曲追求最滑溜輕巧的琴音時，杜梅卻恍似拉布拉姆斯或布魯赫般，拉出更粗獷的線條，但也不是時時如此，於是就做出了明顯的陰及陽，再不是滑不溜手。第二樂章，很多人往往當它是一個間奏曲，不加太大的感情，杜梅沒有小看孟德爾遜的深情，令這個樂章甚有份量。可惜第三樂章我覺得他拉得太鬆，或者是他故意放慢一點，避免一向聽慣的極速、無窮動。
《F大調小提琴奏鳴曲》（軌四至六）是孟德爾遜三首完整的小提琴奏鳴曲之一，但它並沒有在孟德爾遜生前出版，要等到1953年才由曼紐因公諸於世。協奏曲那麼有名，但孟德爾遜的小提琴奏鳴曲乏人問津，是有其道理。哪管它三個樂章（快慢快）的比例，和協奏曲差不多，但第一樂章還是將本身已不算難忘的旋律重覆得太多。後兩個樂章比較短，毋須將樂思擴張到很大，也就易聽得多。
大提琴家現在常將藝術歌曲當成無言歌演奏，孟德爾遜的《無言歌》系列，本身就是沒有歌詞，於是由小提琴去拉，就不像大提琴家拉藝術歌曲時，要很別扭地提高旋律性。杜梅選了其中九首（軌七至15），份量剛剛好，再多就膩了。
Mendelssohn’s beloved E minor Violin Concerto was just one of three items of this new album from Augustin Dumay. The rest are the F major Violin Sonata (1838) and nine Songs Without Words played on violin. Quite unexpectedly it’s the concerto (tracks 1-3) that I enjoyed the most.
It’s because Dumay brought a certain masculinity to it. While most violinists are striving for smoothness in this piece, Dumay played it like the heavier concertos of Bruch or even Brahms. That way we got more yin and yang out of the first movement. Dumay’s second movement was also more intense than the current norm, as a common trait is to treat it as an interlude to the outer movements. The third movement was a let down for me because Dumay tried to slow things down but the effect was too loose to my ears.
Given the staple status of the E minor Concerto, it might be surprising that Mendelssohn completed three violin sonatas but these are hardly played. Although it has a proportion quite similar the concerto, the 1838 sonata (tracks 4-6) has an overlong first movement of which the main tune is repeated too often. The song-like dimensions of the second and third movements are much more enjoyable.
Cellists now flock to appropriate lieder for their own use, but the melodies stripped of their words are usually not melodious enough on their own. Not so for Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words. Dumay picked nine of them (tracks 7-15), bringing out their simple beauties.