Given a multiset $M = \{ 1^{a_1} , 2^{a_2} ,\ldots , k^{a_k} \}$ where $N = \sum_j a_j$
$f(M, r)$ denotes the number of permutations of the multiset $M$ that have exactly $r$ strongly outstanding elements $$ f(M, r) = (\binom{N}{a_1} - \binom{N - 1}{a_1 - 1}) f(M/1^{a_1},r) + \binom{N - 1}{a_1 - 1} f(M/1^{a_1}, r-1) $$
Is there a closed form expression for this 'Stirling numbers of first kind over multiset' recursion?
I know that there is a closed form expression for $F_M(x) = \sum_rf(M,r)x^r$ which is the sum over all possible $r$ (but I want closed form expression for only a paritcular $r$).
[Encountered this when reading: http://www.math.upenn.edu/~wilf/website/LRMaxima.pdf ]