Excellent recital to start with song (3)
I believe the answer is:
air
'song' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'excellent recital to start' is the wordplay.
'excellent' becomes 'ai' (resembles 'A1', old-fashioned term for excellent).
'to start' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'recital' is 'r'.
'ai'+'r'='AIR'
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for air that I've seen before include "'Tune, melody (3)'" , "Cool" , "Sky" , "what emerges from singer's lungs?" , "distinctive quality" .)