Symphonic / Philharmonic

[dillon]

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between a symphonic recording and a philharmonic orchestra recording

[Milvus]

These are two different words so there is no actual difference. Symphonic relates to symphony, so a symphonic recording is a recording of a symphony by an orchestra with all symphony sections (string, woodwind etc.) i.e. a symphonic orchestra.
Philharmonic is an adjective applied to many professional orchestras, London Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic. Its root means music loving. So philharmonic doesn't describe the music the orchestra plays, but symphonic does.

[VHG]

The word symphony can also be used in the name of an orchestra, like the London Symphony Orchestra.

However it does not mean they only play pieces of music that are symphonies.

If you are not aware, a symphony is a piece of music made up of a number of different movements, often four, but some symphonies have only one movement, others 2, 3 or 5.

Symphonies used to be fairly "simple" pieces of music, when composed by composers like Haydn or Mozart (I am not saying the music was simple but they were often short, say 30 minutes, and with no deep meanings.

But composers like Beethoven and Mahler extended the symphony so it could last an hour or more, and cover very deep and complex ideas.