A possible alternative would be the 35/1.4 zm (with filters to get rid of corner smear) + techart pro for autofocus. I've seen some really nice results with this and super small/compact. Unfortunately, also expensive.
The ZM is a really fantastic piece of glass, it's the lens that is usually stuck to my A7R3, I prefer the 35mm focal range to the 50s. It's extremely sharp and produces images with a lot of "pop", colour and contrast. I use mine with the TechArt adapter and the OptoSigma filter to help improve on the corner performance it really make a significant difference in corner performance when shooting between f1.4-f5.6 however I don't use it for landscape work so in all honesty corner performance isn't as critical for my general use.
It does have some limitations however, as you pointed out it is a really expensive piece of glass, not quite at Leica M levels but I think more expensive than most of the other 35s out there. It also lacks autofocus so if that is important to you you will need to purchase the TAP which is also expensive. In the end though I really like this lens, it's built to extremely high level and will likely last my lifetime.
