RaveThe Christian Science MonitorVerdi: The Man Revealed, a new biography by John Suchet, is just what its title proclaims: an attempt to uncover the man behind the art that has become such an indelible part of the fabric of Western music and popular culture ... But despite his fame among operaphiles, Verdi is not, perhaps, the household name he once was. Opera, particularly in the United States, all too often gets the short end of the stick in popular media, frequently perceived as elitist or simply hopelessly out of touch with modern audiences (a discussion for another time). And Verdi, the undisputed master of Italian opera, has suffered a measure of obscurity as a result, even as his music continues to permeate the collective subconscious of popular culture in the US ... Clearly Suchet’s biography is clearly written in the same spirit displayed by his employer, with its strong emphasis on accessibility and excitement over dry historical musings about Verdi’s place in the canon of Western music that one might expect of a biography about a \'great artist.\'
