Benefactor played spoons at recital's start (7)
I believe the answer is:
sponsor
'benefactor' is the definition.
(sponsor is a kind of benefactor)
'played spoons at recital's start' is the wordplay.
'played' indicates anagramming the letters (letters playing around).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'start' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'recitals' is 'r'.
'spoons' anagrammed gives 'sponso'.
'sponso'+'r'='SPONSOR'
(Other definitions for sponsor that I've seen before include "Godparent at a baptism" , "One paying to support" , "A godfather or patron" , "advertising?" , "Promoter; funder" .)