Bach-Busoni Chaconne (Interpretation/Performance question)

[SteinwayTony]

A few weeks ago I made a post asking for your suggestions for performances of Ferruccio Busoni's transcription of this J.S. Bach piece.  I actually haven't had a chance to buy any of these, and all I have is the Bolet version that's on his set of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century. 

I've come to realize something: at the very end of the piece, when the left hand has particularly large chords, Bolet does not roll anything.  I thought, maybe he picked up some left hand notes in the right hand, but as you will see, that is not a feasible task either.  My conclusion is that Bolet "cheated" -- that is to say, sacrificed perhaps the top notes of the left hand chords in order to satisfy his personal interpretation of how the end of the piece ought to sound, because I don't recall Bolet having comparatively large hands, and I don't even think Cliburn could hit all these notes without rolling.  Do you think Bolet is cheating?  Do you agree with his interpretation? 

I've scanned the measures in question.

[amanfang]

I think it's all about effect.  I do not have Bolet's recording of the piece, and although I have listened to it, I do not particularly recall that section.  (I still like Kissin's recording of this the best.)  If he can achieve effect even by cheating, hey why not?  I doubt he could get all the notes in those huge chords without rolling.

[allchopin]

No one can stretch two octaves - no rolling (or jumping) means some degree of cheating.

[xvimbi]

No one can stretch two octaves - no rolling (or jumping) means some degree of cheating.

Question: If something is impossible to achieve, is working around it really "cheating"?

[allchopin]

Question: If something is impossible to achieve, is working around it really "cheating"?

I'm sure Godowsky would've loved to hear that
Maybe it's not exactly impossible, I haven't tried it yet.  I'll see if I can manage without rolling.

[jazzyprof]

I'm sure Godowsky would've loved to hear that
Maybe it's not exactly impossible, I haven't tried it yet.  I'll see if I can manage without rolling.

I can span an eleventh and I still can't play those chords without rolling them.  So I believe it's impossible for the average human to play those chords as written.  I wonder why anyone would write music that is impossible to play as written.  Chopin usually composed at the piano so he could be sure that what he wrote was both pianistic and possible to play with the proper technique.

[SteinwayTony]

Question: If something is impossible to achieve, is working around it really "cheating"?

Semantics.  Anyway, it looks as if Busoni actually INTENDED for the pianist to roll the chords.  In the second chord of the fourth measure of the passage, the chord is A-A-D-F, and the fingering is (5)-1-4-2, which is impractical if not physically impossible to achieve by playing it blocked.  Why Busoni only expressed this through fingering and not through the proper symbol escapes me.