Foretaste of a quietly critical report (7)
I believe the answer is:
preview
'foretaste' is the definition.
(a foretaste is a preview of something)
'quietly critical report' is the wordplay.
'quietly' becomes 'p' (musical symbol).
'critical report' becomes 'review' (I've seen this in another clue).
'p'+'review'='PREVIEW'
'of a' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for preview that I've seen before include "early show" , "Film trailer" , "Early sight of something coming" , "Preliminary showing" , "An advance look" .)