Instrument, note, used in lively recital (8)
I believe the answer is:
clarinet
'instrument' is the definition.
(clarinet is a kind of instrument)
'note used in lively recital' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'n' (abbreviation).
'used in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'lively' indicates an anagram (I've seen this in other clues).
'recital' anagrammed gives 'clariet'.
'n' inserted inside 'clariet' is 'CLARINET'.
(Other definitions for clarinet that I've seen before include "that works off wind" , "Instrument in claret, strangely" , "It's for playing" , "Musical wind instrument as played by Benny Goodman" , "Blow that!" .)