I have found [Børresen's Second] disappointingly conservative ...
IMHO, if any composer could be called a follower of
Tchaikovsky, it is Børresen -- and here I don't mean the progressive Tchaikovsky of the 'Little Russian' symphony or the amazing second string quartet, but the more conservative Tchaikovsky (often drawing on Schumann especially [though, of course, he claimed Mozart as his main influence]) of the later works. What I think Tchaikovsky learned from Schumann and Børresen learned from Tchaikovsky was the importance of developing craft but of putting sincerity first, regardless of the risk.
