Since I had the OED open for something else, I looked this up.

philharmonic, adj. and n.

Pronunciation:  Brit. /ˌfɪl(h)ɑːˈmɒnɪk/ , /ˌfɪləˈmɒnɪk/ , U.S. /ˌfɪlərˈmɑnɪk/ , /ˌfɪlˌ(h)ɑrˈmɑnɪk/

I would have thought a 'Symphony Orchestra' is more deliberately put together in order to perform symphonies whereas a Philharmonic Orchestra has more scope for a wider range of classical music?

But I really don’t know for sure…

Debs

There's really no difference.

I remember reading somewhere a while back that some symphony orchestras put "philharmonic" in their name when there was another orchestra that already existed in the city (i.e. London Symphony Orchestra vs. London Philharmonic Orchestra). There really is no difference, though, as Herman says.

There is a difference with 'Concertgebouw Orchestra', which stands for the absolute best.

Or the Staatskapelle (Dresden) or Gewandhaus (Leipzig).

And, of course, the New York Philharmonic were, until the 1940s, the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, so does that name trump all others?

Actually, I think that the best orchestras in the world at the moment are the hand-picked players that Claudio Abbado builds to play and record individual performances, from Scarlatti, via Bach and Mozart, to Mahler. And they tend to have downmarket names, but they contain the best musicians available. 

Graham, no need to take my post seriously - just supporting the home team.

EJ

Sorry if you misunderstood me, EJ, I wasn't put out in any way: the Concergebouw are, by any standards, one of THE great bands in the world.

Have you seen the DVD of Carlos Kleiber conducting the Concertgebouw in Beethoven's Fourth and Seventh Symphonies? It's quite marvellous! It also brings home, uniquely, how it is an almost gladiatoral contest for a single person to walk out, down those long steps onto the podium, to conduct two such monumental works.

All best wishes.

Hi Graham,

It's all right I've never seen the video, will look it up after your recommendation. My landmark experience with the KCO was a performance of Mahler 5, this was with Chailly. Jaw droppingly awe-inspiring, I was mesmerized from the first chord all the way to the last note! 

EJ

No difference at all. It is just a name. The Vienna State Opera Orchestra is the same group who for symphony concerts is called the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, as the name Vienna Symohony Orchestra already belongs to another organisation! Strictly speaking it is the Orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic Society, but that hardly trips off the tongue ...

Indeed, in a startling name change, the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra was rebranded as the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, in a singularly crass example of the London based BBC management trying to get rid of the "northern" aspect of this great Manchester based orchestra's proud and ongoing tradition, with the notion that Philharmonic is somehow less provincial than Northern Symphony. What utter nonsense of course as the oldest permanent orchestra in the UK is the Halle, founded that same year as the VPO, and also resident in Manchestrer, like the former BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra! 

ATB from George

That's comparing apples and oranges. Those summer festival orchestras rehearse one program. That's quite different from orchestras that perform three or four nights a week, a different prorgram every week, often with a different conductor. To do the latter at the highest level is much harder than rehearsing for two weeks or more (as is the case with youth orchestras) on a single program that gets toured extensively.

That's certainly so, but I've never heard greater Mahler performances than Abbado achieves with his Lucerne Festival Orchestra. And he has quite a track record with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and (latterly) the Berlin Philharmonic. Yet his Lucerne players go way beyond what those orchestras achieved in his previous Mahler recordings.

So, if it's the music that you're after, why should anyone care that Abbado chooses to put together hand-picked orchestras to produce superb music, one piece at a time?

If it's memorable Mahler performances you're after, that's certainly true (I never listen to Mahler, ever). But if it's about 'the best orchestras in the world' these temporary groups are in a different category. They do different things.